A summoning of spells this solstice(ish)
Witches who give
A goodly witch posted:
"Can we do a roundup of favorite witch charities? If I'm throwing money around this season I'd like to add a good cause or two!"
Why YES. Below, please see a starter list of charitable organizations some witches I know donate to and work for. But first, I wanted to spotlight an organization that was started by a witch I know named Kate Chaltain, an immigration attorney in New York. We went to high school together, and I knew Kate was a witch before I even knew what a witch was by the way she lovingly referred to her beautiful firstborn daughter by a nickname that was a pun on the name of a fascist dictator.
El Nido USA, Kate’s New York-based organization, aims to provide safe, communal housing where asylum-seeking mothers and children can receive the legal, medical, and social support they need during their first two years in the United States. I wanted to know more about why a working mom of two like Kate starts and runs a nonprofit, and how any charitable gifts can help (you can go here to donate before reading, but I will also include a button below so you don’t forget.)
Why was there a need for El Nido?
When asylum-seekers are released from ICE detention, it is just the beginning of a very long and complicated process to try to gain protected status in the U.S. The process can take many years, and it can take more than a year for them to be granted permission to work.
Many of the people fleeing Central America are mothers and minor children who have been subjected to terrible physical and sexual violence and they have had to leave everything behind in order to find safety. As a result, many women and children end up homeless or in unsafe living situations once they are released from detention. They need medical care, psychological care, food, shelter, assistance navigating the educational system for their children and help finding work. And, of course, they need legal assistance.
While there are many organizations in New York that try to provide some of those services piecemeal, there is no organization that provides all of them. I have found that over the course of my career representing asylum-seekers I spend a lot of time trying to connect people to necessary services. I’ve also seen how isolating it can be for women when they don’t have a community of women around them. As mothers we know how important this is to health and happiness! My partner and I decided to found El Nido to provide all of those necessities to asylum-seeking women and children in one place. In the summer of 2018 we spent a week on the border working with families that had been separated and we ended up sponsoring a mother and son we met in detention. Once they were released we got them to New York and have been supporting them ever since. Our experience working with them and other indigent asylum-seeking families has informed our vision for El Nido House. Our goal is to raise enough money in 2020 to purchase property upstate in Columbia County (because cost of living is exponentially less up there than in NYC) where we will provide communal housing, food, legal assistance, connection to medical and psychological care, and skills training to up to five women and their minor children.
Why should witches who don’t live in New York care about it?
No program like this exists in New York state - and I am actually not aware of any program like this in the country. New York city has the busiest immigration court in the country which makes New York a natural location for this project. Our hope is that if we are successful we will eventually be able to expand the project to other locations so that we can help more people.
I want to hear about how you do this type of work and then go home and switch into mom mode.
I am really burned out and it is very difficult for me to disconnect because this administration attacks immigrants every day in a way that directly affects the people that I am responsible for. I generally avoid watching any news coverage of what is happening at the border because it upsets me too much and the issues are too complex to be properly addressed on television news but I can’t completely disconnect because I have to know what is happening. I try to limit my exposure to other immigration advocates on Twitter; we have a network of people in the advocacy world who try to keep a handle on what is actually happening.
It has taken a toll on my parenting for sure. I have less patience for the annoying aspects of motherhood than I did previously. At the same time I focus a lot more on just cuddling with my kids. That emotional and physical connection is so important for the three of us and I am so grateful that they are with me and safe. My work makes me very conscious of how fortunate we are.
How much do your kids understand about your work?
My kids are 7.5 and 5.5 so their understanding of what I do is limited. I try to shield them from most of the atrocities that are happening around the world. BUT, I do feel it is important for them to have a basic understanding of my work because it is such a fundamental part of who I am and I want them to care about others. Something we started with El Nido this past summer was hosting community dinners for asylum-seeking families and volunteers. We usually have a lot of kids at the dinners and my kids love attending. Kids are fantastic because it doesn’t matter where they are from or if they speak the same language - they figure out how to play together and find joy in just being together.
I would love any advice on how to explain immigrant rights/human rights to my kids while still being realistic that they have the attention spans of gnats and mostly care about Santa Claus.
I try to make them understand that my job is to help families find safety here and that it is important for them to try to help others in their own way. I think with children (actually this goes for adults too) the best way to teach them about immigrant rights/human rights is for them to meet people that are different from them and then explain how that person has been treated differently. I let them ask questions and try to answer them honestly. In this way the community dinners have been really helpful at contextualizing the immigration crisis for my kids.
How do donations to El Nido get used?
Donations to El Nido go directly to providing these necessities to the families in our program. If witches feel paralyzed by what the administration is doing to immigrant women and children, donating to us is a great way to provide DIRECT assistance to women and children who have been affected.
If you’d like to make a donation, tiny or otherwise, to El Nido, you can go here to do so .
Other organizations witches support
Organized by cause. This far from a comprehensive list: please feel free to share your own!
Safe, legal abortion:
The Women's Medical Fund in Philadelphia
"I give to my local chapter of NARAL"
Education:
Sit Stay Read in Chicago
Morgan Park Academy in Chicago
"Open Door Preschool in Austin—a deliberately diverse (and inclusive of special needs) preschool."
Legal aid:
"Community Legal Services of Philadelphia! We help 12,000 low-income people every year, and enact systemic change that helps hundreds of thousand more."
International:
"Grassroots Reconciliation Group, an NGO that helps reintegrate former child soldiers into their home communities in Northern Uganda. We also now work with integrating South Sudanese refugees moving into the area."
"Charity:water is pretty amazing and 100% of funds go toward permanent sustainable access to water in 11 of the most water-stressed regions."
Mental health
Family services and kids
Marillac St Vincent (a long-standing Chicago charity on the West Side)
Share Our Spare in Chicago
The Albany Park Theater Project in Chicago
Homelessness
Dream of Detroit (a local community revitalization project)
Mobile Loaves and Fishes in Austin
Medical research
The Environment
Equal Rights
United We Dream (advocacy for immigration reform led by Dreamers)
Upwardly Global: “They help immigrants with job placement and training, with a focus on professionals.”
Good big standbys
"I have always loved the NYT’s Neediest Cases Fund. Their short compassionate essays each week give such an insight into amazing people and their struggles. And often highlight how essential even a relatively small amount can change a family’s situation."
Plus: ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Doctors Without Borders.
Finally, a witch alerted me to InLieu: “A great (easy) way to give gifts to charity in honor of someone instead of bringing a hostess gift when you get invited to a party.”
End credits
Thanks for reading today’s issue of Evil Witches, a newsletter for evil witches. If you end up making a donation, anywhere, because of this post, please do let us know! If you’re interested in writing a guest post, have a suggested topic or have any general questions or you can reply right to this newsletter. You can also follow us on Instagram and have witchy conversations on Twitter too. Witches will be dropping some newsletters over break for those enjoying this magical season at home with the kids although paid subscribers get additional content!
One witchy thing
