A longtime partnership with Orphan Grain Train (OGT) has made it possible for Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) to provide needed resources for multiple people in need. The 53’ semi-trailer sent once a month from one of OGT’s branches, usually the one in Norfolk, NE, will pull into the YLM campus parking lot in the middle of the week.

For December and January, YLM has gratefully received four semi-trucks at different times of the month full of donations. In December, the Norfolk and Wisconsin OGT branches sent trailers, and in January, two trailers were sent, one from Norfolk, NE and the other from Grand Island.

Through these donations, YLM has been able to disseminate donations of clothing, hygiene kits, medical supplies, and food to multiple communities through different local organizations. 4,400lbs of potatoes were sent through OGT in December, with half being given to the Rescue Mission of El Paso, which has a couple of migrant shelters in downtown El Paso. The other half were distributed on Saturday morning through YLM’s Food Pantry Drive-Thru.

Medical supplies were also received, which was donated to Juarez non-profit organizations with the ability to import them into Mexico. These medical supplies, including durable medical equipment, are taken into rural areas, where underfunded clinics and health community centers can make them available for their patients.

“Its always a joy when we’re contacted by other OGT branches concerning donations,” Maritza Muñoz-Hernandez, YLM’s Bookkeeper and current Donations/Distributions Facilitator, shared after receiving a phone call for the second OGT deliver in January, “It makes it possible to help many in need, here in El Paso, in Juarez, and even farther away.”

Through Rescue Mission of El Paso, clothing and hygiene kits have been taken as far as areas of Acapulco heavily impacted by the category 5 hurricane in October of last year.

Pastor Sosa, who oversees several migrant shelters along the Mexico/Texas border, has also been able to take food, hygiene kits, clothing, and medical supplies from OGT donations to help these shelters provide care and necessities to the migrants they are sheltering.

Thousands of people are greatly impacted through the generosity of others, and it’s a life-changing partnership between YLM and OGT that continues to allow for lives to be changed.