Dear Friend --

Today the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began operations for their humanitarian shelter, located at the Long Beach Convention Center, for unaccompanied children arriving from the border of Mexico. Long Beach has welcomed its first group of children. Our shelter will mostly welcome young girls, some who also have siblings.

The mission of this humanitarian shelter is quick family reunification. We must treat every single child with compassion, kindness, and love.

Upon their arrival to the shelter, children will be assigned a youth care worker and other staff will provide health and medical care, case management services to ensure safe reunification with a relative or verified sponsor, mental health counseling, and educational services.

Children are in classrooms for 3-4 hours a day, they have an outdoor and indoor recreation center, and a store where they can pick clothes and supplies.

I want to thank Congressman Alan Lowenthal for joining us on the tour today, and our City Council for their unanimous support of hosting these children. And a special thanks to our federal official partners for their work to protect and reunite these children with family as quickly and safely as possible.

If you would like to help, there are several ways you can show your love for these kids:

Book Donation

One of the first things you can do is donate a book. We launched a drive for books in English and Spanish.

Volunteer

Organizations and any individual interested in volunteering can also learn more about the temporary shelter and fill out a volunteer interest form.

Donate

For anyone interested in making a monetary donation, the Long Beach Community Foundation has created the Migrant Children Support Fund. Donations made to the fund will be granted to grants to organizations that will provide educational and play items for the children during their stay in Long Beach, and gift cards to assist the children as they are reunited with their families. Uses of these charitable funds will be updated as the needs arise during the children’s stay in Long Beach.

I am so proud of our city for stepping up to meet this humanitarian mission.

Thank you and Go Long Beach,

Mayor Robert Garcia