Your generosity has left us feeling blown away.
And humbled.
And proud of this state.
And most of all, grateful.
On Friday morning, we posted our first-ever Facebook fundraiser and set a goal of $2,000. We weren’t sure if we’d even raise that much.
But by Sunday morning we had raised more than $15,000 from nearly 400 unique donors, the vast majority of whom live in West Virginia.
For those hearing about this for the first time, a series of ICE raids in West Virginia caught a lot of people’s attention last week on social media, in the news, and by word of mouth. People of conscience were rightly outraged seeing their friends and neighbors swept up and taken away from their families.
But the sobering truth is that ICE is terrorizing immigrants in West Virginia. While we have the second-smallest undocumented population in the country, we appear to have the highest arrest rate.
ACLU of West Virginia has worked on immigrant rights issues for many years, but it’s not enough. What we need is a dedicated, full-time staff person to focus on these issues exclusively.
We were close to having the funds in place for this position last Friday. Thanks to your generosity, we’re now there! We will be posting a job description in the coming weeks. We can’t wait to get to work!
Thank you all again, from the bottom of our hearts.
We are keeping the fundraiser open through the end of the month and encourage folks to continue giving to support all of the important work we do.
Onward, together.