Catholic school students are making sure people don’t go hungry, turning a classroom into a kind of supermarket.
President Biden addresses the influx of migrants from South and Central America at the U.S. border.
Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations are looking different for a second year in a row.
The Dyckman Farmhouse addresses its dark history in a new art exhibit.
By Jessica Easthope
The lines have been endless with people wrapped around blocks, waiting for hours for the essentials. But now, the food pantries that countless New Yorkers have relied on during the pandemic are struggling, too.
In Flushing, one of New York’s most diverse communities — St. Kevin’s food pantry — has had its operation turned upside down. But students at St. Mel’s Catholic Academy are picking up the slack.
“Because donations were really slow they were having to actually go out and use their funds to purchase items for these families, so I think what we’re doing is going to be a big help to them to help them fulfill their mission. And we know the donations the kids are bringing in are going to go to people who really need them,” Amy Barron, principal of St. Mel’s, told Currents News.
Food is piled high in an empty classroom waiting to be delivered to St. Kevin’s, a Lenten service project with a deeper meaning. Tamar Chicavich, a mother of two students at the school, says the idea for the food drive came to her while she was praying.
“It’s practical faith. Living it out here in the community, and they can do that,” Tamar explained.
A year into the pandemic, St. Kevin’s has been struggling to feed the 50 families it regularly provides for. Unemployment in Queens is nearly 13 percent, and the immigrant-rich communities rocked by the pandemic are now feeling the powerful aftershock of food insecurity. It’s a harsh reality that’s become the driving force behind St. Mel’s makeshift supermarket.
“It’s about doing stuff for people and not only giving stuff up, but you can do stuff positive for people and not just for sacrificing something you like,” third graders Destiny Danaj and Franco Santangelo explained. “We give up something like chocolate, or soda or video games, but He gave up His whole life for us.”
In a community when so many undocumented immigrants are not eligible for government assistance, relying on church-run pantries like St. Kevin’s is the only option, and motivation that has students looking past the Lenten season.
“We should do this stuff mostly very often so people in need have stuff, and especially not just in this time. You can do it whenever, always,” Destiny and Franco said.
So far the school has collected more than 2,000 nonperishable food items, and is aiming to double its donations before the food is delivered to St. Kevin’s on March 30.
Currents News Staff
“Stay home.”
That’s the message President Joe Biden has for people thinking about crossing into the United States at the southern border as his administration scrambles to respond to a surge of unaccompanied migrant children already, opening a new shelter March 17.
Officials say more people are on the way — tens of thousands of people are making the dangerous journey to the U.S.-Mexico Border.
“I can say quite clearly, ‘Don’t come, and while we’re in the process of getting set up, don’t leave your town or city or community’” Biden said.
Still, federal officials expect them to keep coming.
Most families and adults are being sent back, but all too often children are crossing by themselves.
Thousands are already in the U.S. and there’s massive overcrowding.
Peter Schey, president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, is a lawyer representing unaccompanied minors and says things need to change.
“It is an untenable situation that the administration needs to address immediately.”
The administration says it’s a work in progress.
“We are building the capacity to address the needs of those children when they arrive,”
explained Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
That includes using a Dallas, Texas convention center to shelter migrant teenage boys, starting March 17.
The crisis these children and families are facing has become political.
‘It’s a pent up surge that started under Donald Trump,” said Representative Ruben Gallego.
“it is entirely caused by the actions of this administration,” said House Minority Leader Representative Kevin McCarthy.
The administration admits there is the perception enforcement is now more relaxed, but they say there are other elements fueling migrants outside of who’s sitting in the White House: devastation in Central America from two hurricanes last year, the toll of the pandemic and worsening conditions these people are trying to escape.
By Emily Drooby
Six names are no longer hidden from the world. Now, they’re part of an exhibit at the Dyckman Farmhouse in Upper Manhattan.
“Bringing to light, the names of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the Dyckman Farm,” explained executive director Meredith Horsford as she guided Currents News through a tour of The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum.
The farmhouse built in the late 1700’s had enslaved and freed black men and women living there in the early 1800’s.
The museum now hosts a special exhibit, “Unspoken Voices: Honoring the Legacy of Black Americans.” It features special pieces from three local artists — Gwendolyn Black, Sheila Prevost and Rachel Sydlowski.
“All of their pieces are in response to the research that we’ve been doing on the enslaved and free black people who lived here,” Meredith explained.
The research the farmhouse team did was aimed at unearthing information about the farmhouse’s unspoken voices.
“It’s been a perfect opportunity to learn more about narratives that are underrepresented and silenced,” said the museum’s intern, Stephanie Barnes, when asked why this exhibit was so important.
Meredith explained further: “They prospered off of the backs of enslaved labor, and it’s very important, especially today but any time, to tell a complete history of the site, and that’s really important to us.”
Now, their six names are no longer unspoken.
To know Harry and Hannah and Will, it’s really, I find, inspiring and empowering to be able to say their names and make that a really important part of our story,” Meredith added.
The art pieces, including figures throughout the house and a multimedia display, are the artists’ reaction to that research.
Meredith hopes they spark an important conversation.
When speaking of the one thing she wants people to take away from the exhibit, Meredith said, “I hope that would just be that they feel more comfortable having a conversation about difficult topics, like slavery. I have noticed that when interacting with visitors, it really is an easy way to ease into a conversation about a really challenging topic by asking questions or talking to someone about a piece of art.”
They’re uncovering the ignored histories of their past and sharing those crucial stories with the world.
By Jessica Easthope
Stephenie Clark says her mom Eileen was protecting and serving, long before she joined the NYPD.
“It was unusual back then to have a mother working, so it was nice that she wanted to be able to help support the household, move out to the suburbs. She wanted to be able to have a career that was different and forward for women back then,” said Stephenie.
Eileen Clark joined the NYPD in 1969 when the department was only two percent women. She was among the first group of women to go out on patrol in 1972.
“I remember her waiting to get on, I remember her talking about the physical exam but back then women were only brought on every four years,” Stephanie said.
Then in 1987, Stephenie followed in her mom’s footsteps, joining the force and having a career her mom paved the way for.
“She made it easy to do because she had done it. It was nice to say I was a second generation female member of the service, I did really like saying that,” she said.
Stephenie retired in 2013 after 26 years on the job. Though her career mirrored her mom’s, the path life and NYPD took them down was different.
“We were never the same rank, she was a policewoman and a detective and I was a police officer, a sergeant and a lieutenant,” Stephanie told Currents News.
Stephenie was the second woman in the NYPD to ever be part of a promotion class while pregnant. She said her mom made Catholic values part of her job as an officer.
“Anti-abortion, anti-death penalty, her Catholic upbringing brought her into this life also, just wanting to help people and she knew she could,” Stephanie said.
And those same values became her own.
“I think I always try to not judge people, be careful how I’m treating people, to be true to my faith. It’s not hard to do when you’re able to help people,” she explained.
Eileen passed away of cancer at 51, just shy of Stephanie’s 20th anniversary on the job.
“I remember my dad called and he said, ‘Your mother would have been so proud,’ and I know she would have been. All the units that I went to, I wish she would have been there, but she was there,” said Stephenie.
Stephenie says her mom is a trailblazer, not only for women on the force but for all officers who join the NYPD to help others.
Vaccine concerns – European countries are dropping AstraZeneca’s shot amid blood clot worries.
Moderna is now holding a trial to see how effective their shot is in children.
Migrant crisis – teens caught along the border are now being bussed to a convention center in Dallas.
Meet the women who are breaking ground in the field of wildlife conservation.
Currents News Staff
One week ago, Lacey Gonzalez held her baby for the first time. It was something that happened before she even entered the hospital.
“I remember the whole ride, my husband kept saying ‘The water hasn’t broken yet, we’re going to be okay,’” Lacey said. “‘We’ll make it, we’ll make it.’”
Lacey says her water didn’t break until the baby’s head came out and at that point, she was in the van outside Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis.
Her husband ran inside for help.
“I asked him the same question that I ask every labor patient that comes in, ‘Are they actively pushing?’” said Tiffany Owen, an HCMC security officer. “And this one time, he said ‘Yes.’”
Tiffany came to the rescue.
“The whole time I just kept looking at her eyes,” Lacey said, “and all I could see was courage. I knew everything was going to be okay.”
“I was by myself for what seemed like eternity but it was just a minute or two,” Tiffany said. “She continued to push. I caught the baby when she was born and it was a girl.”
Medical staff arrived and brought Lacey and her baby to the ER before being brought to the birth center.
On that day, Officer Tiffany Owen became an honorary midwife. She’s also a mom.
“I would say my experiences best helped her more than any of my training that I went through,” Tiffany said.
The Gonzalez family welcomed a baby girl named Tiffany, which was the same name as the officer who delivered her. It means “manifestation of God.”
Officer Tiffany called the experience amazing.
“One of the most amazing moments of my life,” she said.
Currents News Staff
March 16 marks one year since New York City schools shut down with the uncertainty of a reopening date.
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn have been back and operating since September.
Yet, New York City public schools have had a rocky time getting back open and staying open. More than 150 public schools across the city are currently closed.
Licensed marriage and family therapist on the Board of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association, Dr. Kate Walsh Soucheray joined Currents News to talk more about how the pandemic and school closures has affected kids.
By Jessica Easthope
“Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature.”
Pope Francis said that during his second encyclical, Laudato Si’. On Staten Island, the protectors of nature are fierce.
“We are special patrolmen, and so we are able to make arrests,” said Jenna Levendosky and Irena Werner, Urban Park Rangers.
The rangers are responsible for keeping people and wildlife safe in New York City’s parks.
“If someone sees an animal that might be injured we will come out, assess the situation and then transport that animal to a wildlife rehabilitator or an animal care center so it can get the medical attention it needs,” Ranger Irena said.
Rangers Jenna and Irena say the fight for representation in wildlife conservation has been an uphill battle. But in New York City, women are making great strides. Right now women make up 47 percent of Urban Park Rangers.
The rangers say women who have broken ground in wildlife conservation in the past inspire their passions. Rachel Carson was a conservationist whose research on pesticides like DDT helped launch the Environmental Protection Agency.
“That’s one way to tie it to this park. This park was a Super Fund site and that’s done through the EPA, so because of her the EPA and this park were possible,” said Ranger Irena.
Ranger Jenna says she’s been inspired by Rosalie Barrow-Edge, a suffragist who became an advocate for species preservation and studying birds in their habitats instead of killing them.
“If she had the boldness to stand up for women’s rights at that time, she had no problem standing up for conservation and wildlife,” said Ranger Jenna.
Pope Francis’ emphasis on the environment has brought preservation issues and climate change to the surface. Brookfield Park on Staten Island was once a landfill, but now it’s a sanctuary.
“In the last four years that it’s been open we’ve seen a large amount of animals coming back, plant life as well,” said Ranger Irena.
As the Church has made the environment a priority, new generations of women in wildlife conservation have their futures mapped out by those who came before them. It’s up to them to take flight.
By Rhina Guidos and Currents News Staff
(CNS) — For the past month, Magdalena Chávez and her sisters have spent their days praying for their 17-year-old nephew.
They have included the name of the Salvadoran teen in a list of Mass intentions, pray the rosary each day and ask for divine intercession that he reach the U.S. safely.
“That’s our most urgent petition,” said Chávez, who periodically checks in with family members to see if any of them have received the news they most want to hear: that he’s alive and that’s he’s made it through the dangerous crossing from Mexico into the United States.
The teen left his village of Las Pilas in northern El Salvador with a “coyote,” a smuggler, March 1 without telling his extended family, Chávez told Catholic News Service March 11.
The family discovered he’d departed only after another family member told them he was in Guatemala. A few days later, news arrived again, this time with a photo of the 17-year-old sent by the smuggler saying they had arrived in Mexico and would soon be crossing the border.
The teen was intent on being reunited with his parents, two Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. without documents who haven’t seen him in five years, Chávez said. The parents made a deal to pay the smuggler $4,500 if their teen crosses the Rio Grande safely. Soon, he may become part of a record number of minors at the U.S.-Mexico border, many who are quickly filling up shelters on the U.S. side.
The Washington Post recently reported that over 8,500 unaccompanied migrant teens and children, such as Chávez’s nephew, are now in shelters under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services, waiting for relatives or sponsors living in the U.S. to claim them. The newspaper also reported that more than 3,500 — also a record number — are at U.S. Border Patrol stations waiting for space to open at shelters.
Late March 13, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a statement said that for the next 90 days, it was deploying the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to help “safely receive, shelter, and transfer unaccompanied children who make the dangerous journey to the U.S. southwest border.”
The statement also warned parents or family members of the minors “the journey that unaccompanied children undertake from their home countries is extremely dangerous, and the danger is more severe during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Even if they manage to make it across the border alive, they face potential exposure to COVID-19 during the trip, or in shelters or detention facilities holding them temporarily — until a family member, a sponsor or parents pick them up.
Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute in El Paso, Texas, a nonprofit that advocates for migrants on the border, said in a March 11 interview with CNS that minors face the same conditions as other migrants: being transported around facilities and sometimes from city to city without being tested for the coronavirus.
Though much of the surge is in south Texas, near the Brownsville and McAllen area close to the Rio Grande, authorities are flying migrants into places such as El Paso to process them through the federal system.
El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz said that on March 7, the local network of shelters helping migrants and refugees in the border city received word from Border Patrol that between 250 to 300 migrants would be arriving from south Texas and the flow since then has been steady. They are coming without having been tested for COVID-19 “because Border Patrol says they can’t do it,” said Seitz. “They’re having to move large groups of people and some may be COVID positive.”
To be fair, said Bishop Seitz, “the people who’ve been crossing the border have a lower infection rate than those who are here. The risk is more that we give COVID to them, but in any large group, there’s going to be someone who has the virus.”
And while minors are the focus of attention in recent news, Corbett said there are many groups coming through the southern border: asylum-seekers who were turned away during the Trump administration, repeat border crossers, and some seeking economic relief after tropical storms wreaked havoc in their nations. Yet testing for any of them is scarce.
Corbett said his organization sent a letter addressed to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking that, no matter what group it is, DHS ensure testing of incoming migrants. The letter emphasized the necessity of a plan to care for and isolate those who tested positive, “but we didn’t hear back,” Corbett said.
Now that lack of testing, a “missed opportunity,” is being used by those “who would exploit a situation like this for political purposes,” Corbett said.
Republicans were quick to pounce on the Biden administration on March 14 political news shows, following the lead of other GOP members such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The Biden administration is recklessly releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants who have COVID into Texas communities,” the governor tweeted March 3.
Some Republicans also said the new administration had signaled that it’s fine to come through the border, prompting migrants to send their children north.
But Chávez said that for her nephew, who was waiting to cross the Rio Grande late March 14, it was simply a matter of a child wanting to be reunited with his parents, particularly after experiencing a pandemic without them.
And while it’s true that there’s been an increase in activity of migrants at the border, said Corbett, the activity is “not unprecedented,” but was a product of increasing hunger, suffering economies due to COVID, climate change, and turmoil elsewhere.
What’s causing much of the drama playing out on the news these days, Corbett said, points to an administration trying to rebuild an infrastructure whose capacity to welcome migrants was left “impoverished” by the previous one.
On top of it, a pandemic, one which requires people to keep a distance from one another, has eroded what little space existed at the end of the Trump presidency to tend to incoming migrants.
As of March 15, the Biden administration hadn’t made public details of its plan to house the minors, whether it would house them in tents or other structures to deal with the influx.
Bishop Seitz said that while the minors have to be held until their living situation in the U.S. is vetted, it’s also not necessary to hold them as if they’re in prison.
And whether it’s minors or adults, border communities have always been disposed to step in to help.
“My biggest worry isn’t whether we can handle the refugees,” Bishop Seitz said. “My biggest concern is what will be the pushback if those who are against any kind of immigration can sell their overworked refrain that these immigrants are a threat to us, that there’s chaos on the border and all that.
“That worries me because people are easily taken by that fear of the other, of the alien, as we call them,” he continued. “So that worries me more than anything. These are just people doing exactly you or I would do in the exact same situation. They just need a little compassion along the way, and they will do just fine.”