When Paloma was born almost 5 years ago in October, we wanted to give her the gift of realizing how special she is and what kind of difference she can make in the world. We enourage her on a daily basis to move though her life looking for opportunities to help others and be of service. In guiding her and exposing her to how it feels to give instead of recieve specifically at times (birthday's) when our culture breeds an exaggerated sense of entitlement and need for stuff our goal is to build in her an inate strength and confidence in how magical she is and how part of that comes from her ability to help others and give to those in need. We hope it will grow and expand past our family perhaps creating new tradtions for all of us.
On Paloma's birthday each year we have given our Friends and Family the option to support this goal by not showering her with material possessions but with love, time and any contributions they see fit to a cause our family finds important. This year she has been very curious about the children being separated at the border and asked me how we can help. A friend of ours Madeline, introduced us to Casa De Paz a non-profit organization on the front lines of reuniting seperated families. We will run the fundraiser for 60 days, Please read about their amazing work below:
Casa de Paz started in 2012 as a small, one-bedroom apartment offering hospitality to people affected by immigrant detention, such as hosting families whose loved ones are being detained and individuals who have been recently released from detention. In 2017 they moved into a larger rented house with more space so that they would not have to turn people away. Today, Casa de Paz provides visits and emotional support; shelter and meals; and access to phones, WiFi, and computers; and transportation. Detention is a difficult time that tears families apart and creates a financial burden, so they have always offered services free of cost. Since they first opened their doors they have hosted over 1,090 immigrants from many countries around the world and the need only continues to grow. Most recently, Sarah Jackson, the director of Casa de Paz, and the many volunteers, have been instrumental in providing assistance during the reunification of families separated at the border. To keep the doors of the Casa open, Sarah started Volleyball Internacional. One hundred percent of the profit from the volleyball league is donated to the Casa and used to pay the operating expenses. Everything else that happens is because of the many dedicated and hard-working volunteers.
