Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Albuquerque Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
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Thank your your interest in supporting our work to provide Sanctuary in Albuquerque. Sanctuary is an avenue by which AMM attempts to live into its stated goal of becoming an actively anti-racist faith community.
Sanctuary Working Group Co-Clerks:
Sara Keeney (505) 379-3392 and Sarah Malone (505) 306-8771
Information on Immigrant Resources is available at:
https://www.cabq.gov/office-of-equity-inclusion/immigrant-refugee-affairs/know-your-rights
The Albuquerque Monthly Meeting (AMM) has deliberated on matters related to immigration and sanctuary several times over the years. Scroll down to access pdf files with Minutes or Statements generated from or related to these deliberations including:
* International Sanctuary Principles Statement
* Minute on Immigration IMYM 2018
* Minute on Immigration AMM 2017
* Minute on Immigration AMM November 2014
* Minute on Immigration AMM November 2014
Support for asylum seekers passing through Albuquerque is provided by a group of faith
communities organized as Albuquerque Asylum Seekers Welcome. They coordinate with Ruben
García, Director of Annunciation House in El Paso about when buses will arrive in Albuquerque.
Volunteer roles include interpretation, medical support, food and clothing coordination. The
need varies with conditions at the border—sometimes a bus per week, sometimes no buses for several months. Contact Sara Keeney at info@abqfriends.org
AMM continues to support the immigration journey of our Sanctuary Friend, Emma, who lived in the meeting house for twenty-two months in 2017-18. Photos of the paintings she created while living in Sanctuary are available as greeting cards through Sanctuary Works, a small business that both sells cards and receives donations in Emma's support. Greeting cards are in the foyer of the meeting house, along with a photo of Emma. To purchase cards or for more information email: Sarah Malone
Make a donation to the ABQ Faithworks Collaborative (https://www.abqfaithworks.org/) and write "asylum seeker" on your donation. The Collaborative will use your gift to help people seeking asylum and/or Sanctuary. Your donation will be tax- deductible.
As a Sanctuary Church AMM stands ready to provide Sanctuary at any time the need should arise, which would result in an immediate call for accompaniment volunteers. A call for participation will be issued should this need arise again.
If you wish to contribute in another way, please contact one of our Sanctuary Co-Clerks, Sara or Sarah. AMM is not in a position to accept gifts of goods or money at the Meeting House.
Contact them at:
Although outreach to some of the unhoused neighbors who live in the neighborhood of the Meeting House took place in a limited fashion for years, including during Emma's time in Sanctuary, this outreach took on a newfound shape and urgency at the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic in March 2020, when the State of New Mexico went into "lockdown," with many businesses and churches closing. These circumstances placed our unhoused neighbors in great jeopardy, as their access to basic resources became even more limited.
At that point, the Sanctuary Task Force (now Sanctuary Working Group) initiated an outreach effort toward providing our unhoused neighbors with some essential services and creating a presence at the Meeting House (which otherwise appeared to be closed.)
In June 2020, the Sanctuary Working Group issued the following goal statement at the monthly Meeting for Worship for Business. Since that time, the group has presented monthly updates on this ministry through meeting for worship with attention to business.
The Sanctuary Task Force of Albuquerque Friends Meeting envisions a community in which housing instability is rare--or brief and non-recurring--ending homelessness as we know it. We aim to engage with unsheltered neighbors from a framework of solidarity and mutuality—rather than a charity-based model--through which we may build a greater sense of relationship and shared community.
In keeping with Friends' Testimonies on Community and Equality, and recognizing AMM’s long-standing collaboration with (formerly) St Martin’s Hospitality Center (now Hopeworks), on their meal program, we support individuals and families experiencing homelessness in gaining access to life-sustaining resources within our local neighborhood and beyond. We progress toward this goal by providing access to safe, potable drinking water and to a resting place during daytime hours.
Additionally, according to our capacity, we will offer referrals to and/or support for liaison with groups serving unhoused people, as well as advocacy with government and other agencies to provide a wide-range of services.
Provide water access at the outdoor spigot (install French drain to improve sanitation)
Access to electric outlet on front porch to charge devices - cell phones/tablets
Volunteers greet unhoused neighbors every evening, extending a welcome & sharing needed supplies/food. Volunteers receive training and work in pairs.
Thanks to regular donations from Talking Talons Thrift Shop in Cedar Crest and to our annual Long Winter's Night campaign, we provide clothing, blankets, shoes, tents, sleeping bags, tarps and more to support folks living outside year round. A dedicated team helps to sort and distribute donations from the meeting house regularly. (See below for more on the Long Winter's Night Campaign)
AMM has participated in numerous community and city-based committees; interfaced with the NM Coalition to End Homelessness, Healthcare for the Homeless, and other agencies. Recently, AMM issued a minute condemning "Sweeps" by the City that take and destroy all possessions from unhoused people. See below for a copy of the Minute.
Extra supplies are distributed regularly to: Good Shepherd Shelter, The Rock at Noonday; Hopeworks; The Hook-Up, God's Warehouse, Crossroads for Women, as well as multiple other locations and, of course, Albuquerque Friends Meeting!
AMM has provided expanded outreach to our unhoused neighbors since March 2020 including water & electricity access, snacks, provision of necessities such as sleeping bags, blankets, tents, & donated clothing and a safe place to rest, with visitors treated as members of the AMM community. Many have become "regulars," and trusted friends.
The Sanctuary Task Force & Building & Grounds expanded their outreach in the winter (2021-22) to include a fund raising effort to provide additional resources and emergency shelter during extreme weather events. To that end, the Long Winter's Night Go Fund Me campaign was launched with the local Stone Age Climbing Gym as co-sponsor of the campaign, and continued for three consecutive years.
Results of the 2023-24 campaign: By the end of January 2024, 40 tents had been distributed, along with 60 sleeping bags, 12 tarps, and innumerable clothing and cold weather gear items. AMM shared items with volunteers in other parts of the city as well, especially the International District. Thanks to all for your continued support.
Extra supplies are distributed regularly to: Good Shepherd Shelter, The Rock at Noonday; Hopeworks; The Hook-Up, God's Warehouse, Crossroads for Women, as well as multiple other locations and, of course, Albuquerque Friends Meeting!
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