The Albany County Legislature Chairman stopped by a local non-profit Monday with a load of supplies for asylum seekers lodged in area motels.
Democrat Andrew Joyce pulled his truck up to the side door at RISSE, Refugee and Immigration Support Services of Emmaus, on West Lawrence Street in Albany, where he and others unloaded supplies for the approximately 450 newcomers, part of a monthlong drive that began when migrants first arrived. He says it shows that Albany County is a "welcoming, compassionate” place.
"We knew the individuals were coming into New York City that they'd be making their way up to upstate counties," Joyce said. "And I said, it's going to happen on the weekend, it's going to happen at night, and it's probably going to happen on holiday. And that's exactly what happened. So in the wake of the County Executive issuing an executive order, you know, really not demanding, but coordinating and communicating with the municipalities or sending individuals here. You know, so many of us wanted to know what we could do to help. Because these are human beings trying to make their way into the world. And they're here. And you can really judge a community by how you welcome new people, and welcome newcomers."
Joyce says the supply drive is boosted by churches, food pantries, nonprofits and stakeholders trying to make sure the migrants have everything that they need and that they connect with available services and resources.
Joyce is dismayed that migrants ensconced at the Sure Stay hotel seem to have become a thorn in the side of the Town of Colonie, where officials bristled when the first busload arrived in the Capital Region.
"And it's a really unfortunate tone that they're taking out in Colonie in terms of 'you don't belong here, go home, there's no home for you here,' you know, these are individuals that, you know, cast themselves as Christians, and you know about the story of Mary and Joseph, and they were turned away at the inn," said Joyce. "And that's to the heart, of where we are and who we are. It's really unfortunate, you know, what, what the what transpired when these individuals first came. Very political, very ugly. But again, that that brought us back to where we are like, what can we do to help with a small step non non-legislatively, like, what can we do to help."
RISSE Executive Director Daniel Butterworth says the Capital Region typically resettles about 400 newcomers each year, and the 450 who began arriving at the end of May was a lot for the organization to deal with. He says another 55 arrived last Thursday evening.
"In addition to the donation drive, we've also been providing English as a new language classes at each of the three hotels for two different levels of language proficiency," said Butterworth. "So that has effectively doubled, maybe more than doubled our English language class program for adults, which we do offer year round for, for newcomers in the Capital Region. So those are our two primary areas. And we've been working with a number of other folks who are providing legal services to help process asylum cases. There's a food team and a number, I think we've got about eight different tasks, task forces involved with getting this effort coordinated. At the moment, we're moving from our kind of rapid response to more how do we sustain this long term.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says he's working on it.
"We're roughly about 500 right now," McCoy said. 'I'm actually going down, you're hearing this first right now, I have a meeting Wednesday in New York City with Mayor Adams and his team, personally with New York City Association of Counties and Steve Aquario and other county executives to talk about this and come up with a plan. We're at that number and we just want to manage it and continue to go forward."
Butterworth says all of the recent arrivals from New York City are adults.
"So we're just looking for adult clothing," Butterworth said. "And in addition, we need volunteers in all different areas, folks who can be tutors for our English language learners, or who want to help organize some of these donations, both of those would be great. We're also looking for folks who can help with transportation. There are very limited options for the folks who are staying at the hotels. And so that's a big help as people are trying to get to medical appointments, or look for work or things like that."
Butterworth adds while RISSE does not provide cell phones, it does help migrants get online and partners with organizations that are able to get electronic devices into their hands.
Joyce welcomes anyone who can offer any kind of assistance to pitch in.
