To love a country as if you’ve lost one: 1968, my mother leaves Cuba for America, a scene I imagine as if standing in her place—one foot inside a plane destined for a country she knew only as a name, a color on a map, or glossy photos from drugstore magazines, her other foot anchored [...]
My name is Julian Root, and I am 32 years old. I grew up in and around Philadelphia, and was raised Jewish by a mother with eastern European roots (mostly Lithuanian and Romanian). After my parents separated when I was 11, I lived with my Catholic father, who was a self-declared 'mutt' of heritage. His [...]
It's been a busy, busy couple months for Casa Marianella. News began to spread far and wide that Casa was over double it's capacity as the border crisis continued to see record numbers of migrants being sent to detention - over 144,000 migrants apprehended or denied entry into the U.S. in June — the largest [...]
At Casa Marianella, we shelter immigrants and asylum seekers in needs from across the globe: from Iraq to El Salvador, Eritrea to Mexico. We're committed to helping our residents stand on their own two feet again and become fully self sufficient in the ATX community and beyond. American Gateways has been largely impactful for our [...]
250 people gathered on April 17, 2019 for Casa Marianella's annual gathering sponsored by the Board of Directors. We celebrated resettling 425 people, almost all of whom went into safe and secure housing. In attendance were lawyers, ESL teachers, volunteers, donors, staff and friends of Casa Marianella. We were happy to honor Mama Sana Vibrant [...]
We're sharing 10 powerful excerpts and quotes from immigrant writers of all different backgrounds and faiths, in hopes that it will help inspire more change in the way we perceive and interact with our immigrants brothers and sisters. "you have to understand, that no one would put their children in a boat unless the sea [...]
Today we wanted to share Posada Esperanza's Program Director Report with you all. Patti McCabe is our wonderful Program Director at Posada Esperanza, and we are so thankful for the incredible care and hard work she puts into her job, along with our staff and volunteers at Posada. Posada was founded as a home for [...]
At Casa Marianella, we offer many services, ranging from legal support to housing to ESL courses to help our residents get comfortable speaking in English in their new community. Our ESL classes are in the evenings from Monday to Thursday and are open to the greater Austin community. We asked our wonderful ESL students what [...]
Author: Katharine Poor Upon crossing the border bridge between the United States and Mexico early last summer, a family of three from the Democratic Republic of the Congo told Border Patrol agents that they needed to apply for political asylum. They were processed, told to wait in a cold holding room, and quietly shipped to [...]
What a year it has been for Casa Marianella. There have been highs and there have been lows for our community, but we have made it into 2019 with our heads held high and so much hope for the future of our nonprofit and the immigrants we serve. Without your support, we would not be [...]