Field of Interest — June, 2024
$3,000 to Conversations with Friends to Provide “Dignity Backpacks” and Support for Individuals Jailed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota
Executive Director Steve Kraemer writes,
“The wonderful grant that we received from the Catholic Community Foundation has helped us with our continuing commissary deposits to people at the Freeborn County Adult Detention Center in Albert Lea, the Kandiyohi County Jail in Willmar, and the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River. It also helps us purchase backpacks and the clothing, hygiene items, and water bottles that we include in each one.
“The commissary deposits enable people jailed by ICE to call their loved ones and let them know how they’re doing, how much they love them, and how their hearings are progressing. And as the result of receiving a ‘Dignity’ backpack, people can wear a clean, fresh, new set of clothing, instead of the clothing in which they were arrested by ICE, and they’re able to return to their birth country with a real sense of dignity and self-respect.”