Volunteers honor the humanity of people at SDC and their loved ones through service and advocacy. El Refugio volunteers:
Help out at our hospitality house
Visit people at SDC (Must speak Spanish, for now. We may have speakers of English and other languages on our visitation list in the future.)
Answer our bilingual helpline (Must speak Spanish.)
Collect items such as backpacks and clothing for people facing deportation
Advocate for the closure of SDC
Send cards and letters of support to people at SDC
Become a pen-pal with a person at SDC
Host events to raise awareness of immigration detention
Support El Refugio in fundraising.
We invite you to write a letter to a person at SDC, letting them know they are not alone or forgotten.
Our toolkit will tell you everything you need to know to write to a person at SDC, but we are currently updating it. For guidelines on letter-writing, contact Patti Ghezzi. If you would like to become a pen-pal with a person detained at SDC, please fill out our volunteer form.
Drives and donations of used and new items
We update our needs list monthly and invite volunteers and groups to hold drives for the items we need, mostly for backpacks and clothing for people being released or facing deportation. Items may be shipped directly to our partner, Koinonia Farm, via our Target Registry, or dropped off at an Atlanta location.
Holly and Jorge: Pen-pals and friends
SDC closed visitation when the pandemic struck. El Refugio ramped up its pen-pal program. Holly Patrick, a longtime volunteer and board member, was paired with Jorge, who had been at SDC for almost two years. When Jorge was released, he moved to Florida where he had friends. Holly happened to be in Florida, and they met up in person!