A local organization from Chelsea, Massachusetts is bracing for an influx of immigrants.
The executive director from the la Colaborativa de Chelsea, or in English, the Chelsea Collaborative, is saying it’s been three consecutive days of receiving people from Haiti, Central and South America, calling it a humanitarian crisis.
Just on Friday, they helped around 40 of them with meals and a place to stay, but Executive Director Gladys Vega said she’s worried that they are running out of resources to help.
Vega told NBC10 Boston that between Wednesday and Friday they’ve helped over 200 immigrants, an overwhelming number for the organization, which usually only works with five to 10 families a week.
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They contacted the Everett Haitian Community Center for help.
Reverend Myrlande Desrosiers says they’ve assisted with translations, among other necessities.
“We cooked traditional food that these people have been craving and most importantly as they’ve been asking for the spiritual and emotional support that they need.”
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Vega said she wasn’t given a heads up about the arrivals. The first night, 34 families showed up at the Collaborative.
Alex Train with the city of Chelsea said there was a last-minute change.
“That was a call that was made later in the evening. The original facility they were planning to use and the partner agency wasn’t able to process folks," he said.
Train said the immigrants are showing up at Logan Airport and South Station and don’t exactly know where they’re coming from.
Vega said she’s worried that their resources are going to run out, especially for the residents they already help day in and day out.
“My biggest challenge and fear is that because we’re doing this I want people not to think that Massachusetts has all these resources. We just survived a global pandemic," she said of the strain.
The Everett Haitian Community Center said that since last year they’ve helped around 4,000 immigrants.
The Massachusetts Governor’s office sent this statement:
"The state is contracting with La Colaborativa to provide hotel rooms for homeless families under the Emergency Assistance program. These costs are covered by the state. Nearly 70 municipalities across the state are hosting EA families. Due to a critical shortage of available shelter beds and an increase in demand, we have had to use hotels and motels as a temporary, last resort to ensure families have safe housing. The Family Welcome Center in Allston remains open as a central intake center, and we are connecting families with shelter as quickly as possible – whether that’s at Joint Base Cape Cod, hotels or other sites based on availability. Our administration continues to work with our local, state and federal partners as well as community organizations to identify additional options for expanding the capacity of our Emergency Assistance System and long-term solutions for this crisis."
