North Texas charities come together to send donations to South Texas
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - North Texas non-profits are answering the call to help neighbors in need. Four local charities combined resources to provide clothing to hundreds of migrants in South Texas, united by a common mission.
All it took was one phone call from the Catholic Diocese, and The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of North Texas sprang into action.
"It really was just a request. 'What can we do here in North Texas? Is there anything that we could do to help out?'" said Luis Gonzalez, CEO of The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of North Texas.
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Laredo said it's received more than 30,000 migrants over the last year and were nearly out of options to clothe them.
"Most of our donations and clothes, it's already depleted," said Rebecca Solloa, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Laredo.
So St. Vincent de Paul employees went to their warehouse last week and started gathering donations. The Knights of Columbus offered to send a truck and two drivers to Laredo.
Then, Catholic Charities Dallas and Goodwill matched the contribution.
Together, they sent more than two tons of donations to the border, clothing close to 500 people.
Those who received the donations said they represent more than just a change of clothes.
"When they're arriving, they're arriving in a pretty distressed situation, but when they leave, they leave in a pretty hopeful situation," said Solloa. "So for them, it is it's actually a spirit-lifter."
Luis Gonzalez said it is uncommon for four different non-profits to collaborate. But their mission is shared.
"There's not a competition," he said. "There's too many people that are in need, and we're here to help. We're here to kind of work together, and so the ways that we can do that, it benefits everybody."
"At the end of the day, I look at it as we all live under one rock," said Rosy Gamez with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of North Texas. "We all have to help each other, whether they're 10 miles away or whether they're 100 miles away. It doesn't matter."
