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Client Story
Corina is Just Neighbors' first client to benefit from an update in the U visa regulations that pertains to family members abroad. Her story, filled with despair and trauma, has an especially happy ending. Corina came to this country illegally in January 2004, making the difficult decision to leave behind two children in Honduras, who at that time were 12 and 3 years old.
Shortly after arriving here, Corina met a man and started dating him. They became a couple, but soon after, the boyfriend started beating and abusing her. Corina suffered through several years of abuse and gave birth to a child. She tried to escape the abuse and was able to obtain multiple protective orders, but her ex-boyfriend continued to stalk her and break into her home to abuse her. Eventually, she called the police on him several times and assisted the police in obtaining convictions against him. She was finally able to free herself from her abuser.
Corina was referred to Just Neighbors in 2007 and one of our attorneys filed a U visa application on her behalf, as a victim of violent crime who cooperated with law enforcement. The new U visa regulations also permitted Corina to petition for her two children in Honduras, whom she had been struggling to support for several years. Corina's U visa case was approved in February, 2009, but her Honduran children were still stuck in their home country, waiting to be processed by the U.S. embassy which closed occasionally due to political instability.
Corina had not seen her children in almost five years. All that changed last week, when Corina was reunited with her son and daughter at Dulles Airport! The children, now 17 and 8 years old, are beginning school, getting to know their half-sister, and learning about life in the United States. We will be honored to help the children and their mother apply for legal permanent residence once they are eligible in three years. In the meantime, we wish Corina and her newly-reunited family much happiness here.
Satellite Office Move
Just Neighbors is thrilled to announce that our satellite office in Herndon that has been located at Floris United Methodist Church since 2000 will be moving down the road to a new nonprofit center called Connections for Hope. This facility will be shared by seven nonprofits serving the low-income community in Herndon, including Reston Interfaith, Computer CORE, the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, the Jeanne Schmidt Free Clinic, Helping Children Worldwide, and Vecinos Unidos.
This facility will benefit clients, as they will be able to access a range of services in one location. The partner nonprofit organizations will develop enhanced referral systems, share common areas, and collaborate in new ways to serve residents in need. You can see the floor plan and pictures here.
Floris UMC has been an integral part of this move and its support will enable us to continue serving the Herndon community. We plan to move in before the end of the year.... stay tuned.
Thank you Martha Real!
We would like to honor Martha Real as she steps down from eleven years of service on Just Neighbors' Board of Directors and joins our Brain Trust to advise and support us. Martha helped lead the organization through some challenging times and spearheaded our opening of a second office at Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon. We would not be where we are today without Martha's steady guidance and hard work over the past decade. We wish Martha well in her new role of Executive Director of Grace Ministries, another mission of the Methodist Church here in Northern Virginia that provides food, clothing, and job training to low-income residents.
Former Clients
This past month, we began an initiative to invite former clients to donate to Just Neighbors by sending them a letter in the mail with a reply envelope, just like we do during our normal annual campaign. These individuals, more than anyone, understand how our work can touch the lives of low-income immigrants in the community. We were not optimistic that anyone would give, since none of them have much money. But the response has been humbling and gratifying.
In the first week we received over a dozen donations with some very touching notes accompanying the small checks. Our former clients, who in many cases are now able to work and are in a more secure place than when we had served them, were delighted to give in order to help the next immigrant who would be needing assistance.
One client wrote "Only you could hear the prayers that fill each thought of you. And the smiles that warm each memory of the generous things you do, you'd know you're treasured more than words can say. Thank you so much. Please, count me in for a $25 monthy donation. Thank you."
Another client wrote, "I am, of course, very happy to donate. I am very appreciative of your organization. I have always used you for my legal paperwork. Thank you for everything. May God bless you so you may continue to help people like me."
Another client wrote to her former attorney here, Allison, "Thank you very much for all your help. I'm sending an small donation for now. I will never forget what you and all the people from Just Neighbors have done for me. God bless you. If you could send me some more envelopes for the future or I will stop by one of these days. :)"
Volunteer of the Month
Just Neighbors would like to thank Nick Plionis of Foley & Lardner for his excellent and wide-ranging pro bono work for us. Nick has helped with a variety of case issues, including questions about the laws of Sierra Leone that govern the legitimacy of a child, eligiblity requirements for Social Security benefits (we had a client receiving Social Security, and we didn't know why or whether it would hurt her application for a green card), and what makes a name a legal name here in the United States. Nick and a colleague also took on researching and writing an appeal for us under a tight time deadline; one of our asylee clients was trying to bring her husband to join her; the efforts of Just Neighbors had been denied, and we had one final chance to try to persuade Immigration that the client and her husband truly were lawfully married; Nick took on the issue and won! He has also assisted Just Neighbors with some complex questions regarding nonprofit structure.
Nick's expertise seems to stretch along many aspects of the law, as he is actually a member of Foley & Lardner's Mechanical and Electromechanical Technologies practice. He is one of many attorneys and staff at Foley & Lardner who have enabled us to expand our caseload in the past two years. We are extremely grateful for the support of their firm and, this month, of Nick in particular. Thank you!
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