Priest to take 50 tons of supplies in 7 trucks to help migrant caravan

Rev. Jose Sigfredo Landaverde has only been getting three or four hours of sleep a day since he started colllecting relief aid for the migrant caravan making its way through Mexico to the U.S.

But despite his lack of sleep, his work has paid off: his Little Village mission Faith Life and Hope has received donations totaling more than 50 tons of goods — a full seven semitrucks worth of supplies.

And the mission is still collecting supplies, which can be dropped off at 3348 W. 25th St. 24 hours a day until he and other volunteers leave Nov. 28 for Nogales, Arizona and Laredo and Reynosa, Texas. The priest said they need more donations of non-perishable food, clothes and medical and baby supplies.

The trucks will split up so they can meet the migrant caravan at different places along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hundreds of members of the caravan have already reached the border city of Tijuana — one of the locations his team will travel to. Thousands of others are in Mexico City and much further south.

Volunteers are already at the border, Landaverde said, to help migrants start the asylum application process. More volunteers with experience in immigration law will be traveling with Landaverde’s aid trucks.

“We want them to get in the right place to avoid trouble so they can get in,” Landaverde said of the migrants.

Landaverde has also expanded the campaign to provide aid to the residents of Nayarit, Mexico, who were displaced by Hurricane Willa last month.

Online, Landaverde has collected $1,000 through a GoFundMe campaign he started last week, and his goal is to reach $5,000.

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