A Christmas Connection: Chalice House Brings Warmth, Joy to Small Family

A Christmas Connection: Chalice House Brings Warmth, Joy to Small Family

By Laura Mandell and Christine Organ on August 7, 2024

In the Stories of Solidarity Series, the UUSC Community Accompaniment Project With Asylum-Seekers (CAPSAS) features intimate stories of UU congregations coming together to offer care and community to those in migration. This series will feature the real-life voices of UUs taking on the role of supporting people in migration through providing homes and resources for those in need.

It was a cold day in late December 2023, when the Countryside Church Unitarian Universalist (Chalice House) team got word that a family of three separated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the border was now-many months later-to be released from detention and needed shelter. The parents, M and V, were in separate detention facilities in Texas, while their 12-year-old son, A., was more than a thousand miles away in an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelter facility in Illinois.

The Chalice House team sprang into motion. B, a young man from Guatemala, had been living in the home for a few weeks by himself. But the home has four bedrooms and is perfectly suited to hosting a small family along with one individual. B is a social creature and excited to know that he would soon have roommates.

The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) worked with CAPAS partner, the Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants, to finalize M's release and arrange his flight to Chicago; he arrived just a couple of days later. B. and members of the Chalice House team were on hand to welcome M to his new home. He arrived with a big smile and an open heart, excited to see his family together again.

Within moments, we discovered that B already knew M's niño, son, A from the ORR facility. M's smile grew bigger when he learned this. Because he was the older of the two boys, I teased B.: "I hope you were nice to Antonio?!"

"Oh yes, and he is a good boy," B told me. "We were in math class together." His next remark, about which one was the better student, was lost in translation, but I think it was A.

It was an auspicious beginning to the next chapter of their journey toward asylum.

It was bitterly cold that December. We took M shopping for a warm coat and some Christmas gifts for his niño. He wondered if the store might have a penguin. A penguin, we asked? Yes, a stuffed penguin; A loves penguins! Alas, no penguin was discovered in the aisles of Target, but M selected some other things. On Christmas Eve, they played board games together, and A called his mom-who had not yet arrived in the Chicago area-to say Feliz Navidad, te amo, nos vemos pronto ("Merry Christmas, I love you, see you soon!").

Just a few weeks later V was able to join them at Chalice House.

In the following months, they acquired driver's licenses, English skills, and many new friends. They celebrated A's 13th birthday watching two of Europe's biggest soccer clubs face off at Soldier Field in Chicago. Chalice House Community Partners hosted a spaghetti dinner, a garden party, a bowling and pizza party, and a movie night. Mentors and residents enjoyed lots of events together, from B's first swim and A's first outdoor movie to garden walks, light shows, and even a fencing tournament at the Medieval Times dinner.

In the summertime, the residents invited the community partners to Chalice House for a fiesta and barbecue featuring V's delicious Columbian cooking, including spit-roasted flank steak, empanadas, and papas rellenas.

Finally, after almost a year, work permits arrived. M and B were quickly hired by a local business prioritizing hiring immigrants as part of its employment strategy. V is pursuing a job as a domestic abuse counselor and working as a delivery driver. The four of them moved into an apartment together, while B saves up enough money for an apartment of his own. And in a full circle moment, they all recently met the newest family to Chalice House, offering them a heartfelt welcome.

Image credit: Chalice House

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