Internally Displaced Persons
Dear Friends and Donors:Under the current Administration, BCOA's application to sponsor Family #10 with Rainbow Railroad (www.rainbowrailroad.org) is DOA. We have already returned the generous grant to the Vermont Community Foundation. In the meantime, we are pivoting to support Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). As defined by the UNHCR, an internally displaced person is "someone who is forced to leave their home, but who remains within their country's borders." In partnership with PFLAG Dorset (www.PFLAGDorset.org), we have been requested to help families of trans children to relocate to Vermont as well as trans folks planning to emigrate to safer havens abroad. Furthermore, foreign students, with legal visas, studying in VT have been severely affected by new immigration policies of this Administration.
BCOA is currently housing an IDP who is waiting for her work permit, which usually is a routine approval with her valid student visa, but not under this Administration. Her situation is precarious and she might need to leave the country. And the worst part, her new VT employer, with a shortage of qualified applicants, will continue to have a major hole in its organization. Our work continues thanks to your continued support, financially or morally. Donations are still welcome to support the families BCOA has co-sponsored so far, and to IDPs, at our website -- www.BCOpenArms.org. All donations are tax-deductible. If it takes a village to raise a child, it will take many villages to host new arrivals to our corner of Vermont, while providing a safe and nurturing environment. We need all your heartfelt energy.
In peace,
BCOA Team
Bennington County Open Arms
c/o The Dorset Church
P.O. Box 263
Dorset, VT 05251
BCOpenArms@gmail.com