Colorado woman starts online donation fund to help migrants in desperate need
Over the last year, Denver has received more migrants per capita than any other large city in the U.S. that doesn't flank the southern border. The city has served more than 32,000 migrants since January.
That is now about 4.5% of Denver's total population. Many of the migrants are coming from Venezuela, crossing borders to flee political and humanitarian issues.
The influx has overwhelmed the shelter system and resulted in more than $35 million in spending. Still, some Coloradans say more needs to be done to get these families off the streets.
One woman is putting her time, effort and name on the line to help these families.
While the city and organizations are doing their best to help migrants, it's not always a quick turnaround to get them into housing.
Lisa Wimberger, a Colorado woman, has made it a mission to get those families freezing in the streets into rental properties or Airbnbs.
On average, she says this cost about $300 per person to shelter, monthly.
Therefore, with the help of the community, she is doing her part to try to get some of these families off the streets.
"I accidently drove through one of the camps one day and I was horrified at seeing babies in the street freezing and hungry," said Wimberger.
Tent lines outside hotels and under bridges are now acting as migrant shelters as the number of Venezuelans arriving in Denver continues to grow.
"People are in tents, people are living under bridges and some of them have found temporary shelter but are being timed out," said Wimberger.
She is doing her part to help because she understands the need.
"I am consumed right now with a passion to help house the unhoused Venezuelans that have come here seeking asylum," added Wimberger.
Living on the streets is reality that Venezuelans like Mili Torrealva and her family were afraid to face.
"It was scary to think we were going to end up in the streets, especially as a family," said Torrealva in Spanish.
Luckily, they won't face that fear once they leave the shelter. At least not for now, after connecting through a Facebook group with Wimberger. Wimberger was touched by Torrealva's story and began to look for a space for her and her family.
She will now rent a room with a family in Aurora. She is moving on Sunday with her husband and daughter for a minimum of a two month stay with an opportunity to continue on in that house, once they fix their paperwork and work permit situation.
It's all thanks to an online donation fund she began more than eight days ago called "Move 20 refugee families from street to shelter" on GoFundMe.
"In the last six days I have housed 13 people some of them are moved into sustainable housing, in these cases people who have paperwork in progress, I've put in rentals with the idea they can take over the rent in the future," said Wimberger.
For other families who just arrived, she's found temporary rooms at least through the winter.
Her goal is to help house 50 by the end of the month.
"My efforts right now are to get babies off the streets, not to displace other unhoused people or devalue their importance, but to get babies off the streets.
It's an effort that is not only appreciated, but needed.
"It's been such a blessing because now we do not have to worry," said Torrealva.
The city of Denver does not have a time limit right now for migrant families in shelters, at least for the winter. However, this means smaller families may be asked to share a space and with a record high of more than 3,500 migrants in shelters, the city says they're having to find ways to make room this winter.
Torrealva and her family will not be in this predicament. They are moving into a new space Sunday that will last them through February, thanks to online donations.
