General Meeting and Potluck Breakfast
Saturday, September 13, 9:30 am
Gurnee Police Facility Community Room
100 N. O’Plaine Road
Children and Families Facing Deportation: Local Assistance
Julie Contreras, United Giving Hope (UGH)
Perhaps you saw the article in the Sunday, July 20th, Chicago Tribune titled “Chicago-area children get deportation letters.” The online version of the Tribune continues, “At least 12 children in the Waukegan area — all unaccompanied minors from Mexico — received sudden deportation letters from the Department of Homeland Security last month, according to advocates.”
Our September meeting features Julie Contreras, who is an advocate for these children, through her organization United Giving Hope. These children reportedly entered the US legally within the past year as unaccompanied minors to be later reunited with family already in this country. Contreras will discuss the children’s various situations and the assistance being provided, including shelter, safety, and legal advice.
Julie Contreras describes herself as a human rights activist with over 35 years of service at the international level. She considers that her life’s purpose is to educate and empower the communities she serves to know and exercise their rights, regardless of race, creed, color, language, and legal status. As founder of the international United Giving Hope NFP based in Waukegan, Illinois, Contreras specializes in intervention against deportations and in securing family unity, which has assisted over 8,000 families over the past 20 years. Currently she is serving refugees under the UGH Sanctuary Program, which has 320 families locally seeking to obtain asylum through pro bono legal representation and support services to the children and their families.
Contreras has been involved in numerous advocacy roles. As a former Marrow Account Manager for the “Be the Match” Registry, she specialized in outreach to African American, Asian and Latino communities to increase the number of people of color becoming marrow donors. She considers life experience to be a primary source of her ongoing education. In addition, she received her degree in early childhood development & music and art theory for children from Chicago City Colleges and from St. Augustine College.
Contreras resides in Waukegan and is a married mother of three adult children.
Our meeting will begin with a potluck breakfast, which we will share with Contreras and possibly some of the children who have received deportation letters. We request that you bring your food to share in disposable or recyclable containers so that the leftovers can be brought back to families being supported by United Giving Hope.
June Stelter, Program Chair
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