"FU Coronavirus” Grocery Run Fundraiser Launch!
To view and donate directly, visit our GoFundMe fundraiser!
Freedom University is an underground school for undocumented students who’ve been banned from equal access to public universities in Georgia. Our name was chosen for two important reasons: one, to honor the legacy of the Southern Freedom School tradition of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, and two, to highlight the best school acronym in the world: FU Georgia.
Our mission at Freedom University is to educate and empower undocumented students and fulfill their human right to education. While we are accustomed to fighting for human rights and fighting against xenophobia and racism in the Deep South, we find ourselves fighting a whole new battle against a deadly global pandemic. We quickly adapted and moved our classes online, but we need your help.
We’ve been able to protect our students’ right to education, but it has also became apparent that this pandemic will exacerbate existing inequalities in our community. Two weeks ago, in order to get a clearer picture of what our students were facing in this pandemic and how we as a community could better support them, we asked them to participate in an “FU Coronavirus Community Needs Survey.”
The results were staggering:
- 89 percent of our students and their families lack health insurance;
- 50 percent of our students and their families don’t know where to go or whom to trust in seeking medical treatment;
- 56 percent of our students live in households of five or more people;
- 84 percent of our students are working or have at least two family members working outside the home on a daily basis. Most are working in the food industry, in grocery stores, and in hospitals, putting their families at increased risk of exposure to COVID-19.
- The majority of our students and their families are not eligible for federal relief programs, even if they pay federal taxes through their Individual Tax ID Number (ITIN).
Over the last two weeks, our staff members have raised funds to go on massive grocery runs to purchase food, medicine, and supplies for 25 undocumented families. We are washing our hands often, refraining from touching our faces, wiping down products, and taking every protective measure we can to purchase and deliver these basic necessities to our students and their families. These deliveries have been lifelines for our students, and have allowed many undocumented families to save their financial resources and minimize their trips to the grocery store.
We’ve delivered hundreds of pounds of tortillas, rice, beans, cheese, produce, and milk, as well as medicine, diapers, feminine supplies, and disinfecting supplies to keep our families healthy. In the absence of political leadership and fair policies that recognize the humanity of undocumented families, Freedom University and other community-based organizations have stepped up to care for our undocumented neighbors in this global health crisis.
In order to continue this vital work, we need a massive influx of operational funds to support our director, Emiko, and our three DACA staff members -- Arizbeth, Rafael, and Gabriela -- who are committed to working around the clock to respond to urgent needs in our community. They are also leading efforts to connect local foundations and city/municipal governments to provide direct emergency funding for undocumented families ineligible for federal relief. And they are checking in with students every day, facilitating mental health workshops, and making sure teachers have everything they need. We want to make sure we can continue to pay these staff members fair salaries, especially as many of our monthly sustainers have had to cancel their donations due to job losses in this pandemic. Additional funding will allow us to move forward with our scheduled “FU Coronavirus Grocery Runs” to purchase food, medicine, and supplies for our students’ families in the coming weeks and months.
All donations will address these priorities:
1) Salary support for Freedom University's four staff members, three of whom are undocumented young people with DACA
2) Food, medicine, and household supplies for undocumented students and their families
10 percent of all donations will go to our 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor, The Praxis Project, a health-justice organization based in Oakland, California.
While the cruelty of this world can seem unbearable at times, we are asking you to not look away. COVID-19 does not discriminate based on immigration status, and neither should our response.
Our undocumented neighbors are human beings worthy of dignity and justice, and we are all in this together. So if you have the financial means, please give generously to help us support our students and their families. Stay home if you can, wash your hands, take care of your loved ones, and most importantly, please maintain your willingness to fight for a better world in these uncertain times.
Thank you so much.
Love,
All of us at Freedom University
