As the nights grow cooler, members of San Pablo Lutheran Church have come together to find a way to serve those currently seeking asylum from the US. The full shelters throughout El Paso have resulted in migrants, from adults to children, having to sleep in the downtown streets of El Paso, usually near one of the migrant shelters.

“Regardless of where we stand on this issue, these are people in need,” one of the members shared soon after the distribution of 176 to-go meals of baked chicken, rice, and potatoes back in August.

Ideas were discussed and for the months of September and October, this small congregation came together to make flannel blankets, which would keep a person warm and be easy to keep in a drawstring bag with basic hygiene items and a Spanish devotional book from the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Working with funds received from Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM), San Pablo members purchased 200 yards of different flannel patterns, setting the goal to make 50 blankets. Several of the members met on Thursday evenings to cut and tie blankets, a couple of them taking blankets home. YLM provided fifty drawstring bags with hygiene items, which were donated by Holy Trinity Lutheran Church from Edmond, OK earlier this year.

The completed blankets were spread out on the front pews and prayed over the Sunday before they were distributed.

The next Sunday morning, after church, several of the members of San Pablo loaded up YLM’s van with 50 drawstring bags, with blankets rolled up inside, along with hygiene items. Upon arriving downtown, San Pablo members worked together to show love and care by distributing these drawstring bags to children, women, and men.

After sharing lunch, the San Pablo members began to discuss how else they could help, not just with the migrants living in the streets, but also the shelters who were overwhelmed with the needs of the migrants they are housing. It’s a true blessing to see the love these members of San Pablo are sharing with the stranger, the foreigner, the homeless…the least of these.

If you would like to support mission-churches in El Paso and Juarez who are seeking to reach out to those seeking better lives in the US,
you can donate towards YLM’s continued efforts to make this possible today!