Why the Bienvenidos Project?
We want the Bienvenidos project to be the first call a new Hispanic family makes in Northeast Florida. “Nothing says “Welcome” like a voice on the other end of the line that understand your plight and cares! “Why should we help the immigrant Hispanic population?” in the NE FL area? Media sources usually reflect the bad side of the immigrant population such as drugs, prostitution, and crime. Let’s face it bad news sells! There is another side that is rarely spoken of when talking about the ongoing Hispanic migration to Northeast Florida.
This is the reality that it is Latino workers both migrant and immigrant comprise of much of the labor both in the farms and for the industrial sector, such as manufacturing and building industries. Without them we have no supply chain, and we have no products on the shelves. The Latino community prides itself in its hard work ethic but because of their plight they are usually found the lower strata of poor paying jobs.
I remember the hopeless look on my mother and father face when we first arrived. Not knowing the language, they left all and risked everything for a better future. Many of these parents have lived to see the fruit of their effort as they have watched their children go from cleaning the bathrooms at the truck stop to leading in the board rooms of America. They just needed a hand up.
We offer food because hunger is real but the trust that is developed opens the doors to offer training, information, small entrepreneur loans, and job coaching. All these kinds of things produce hope.
One of our first tasks will be to connect the Hispanic population with (the Village) their society of doctors, lawyers, dentist, mechanics, employers, and others who have proven they can be trusted to not take advantage of the Hispanic plight.
Imagine living in a country separated from relatives and not being able to understand the language. You can’t get more hopeless than that. It’s the reason most aid does not reach the Hispanic population. That’s why we will have bilingual volunteers that will answer the Northeast Florida hotline for assistance 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Problems happen and they don’t usually happen during normal hours.
The Hispanic community wants to come together beyond our little religious and/or nationalistic bands but someone must raise the flag and lead us. The Bienvenidos project will do just that and do it without any ulterior motive or hidden agenda.
We have only scratched the surface of the Hispanic population in NE FL that is why we need a reliable vehicle and freezer trailer to reach out multi-county wide. This vehicle must carry the team, the food, and the set-up supply for a mobile pantry on location.
Once the main Hispanic hotspots are identified we will begin the process of locating places for training and instruction near them. Hispanics are a proud people, and they prefer not to get government assistance. In the Hispanic world a hand up is a hand out of the food lines and government assistance.
We hope that you will consider assisting us to extend that hope to those that are marginalized, forgotten and un-appreciated because we don’t understand them, and we have overlooked their value to the American society.
Oasis de la Familia- Bienvenidos Project
Starting July 1, 2022 llámenos al (904)-434-0144