The Tamale Dinner Fund-Raiser for Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition was a huge success. $1800 was raised through a combination of dinner sales, a 50/50 raffle, and cash/ check donations.
Pilar's Tamale's in Ann Arbor kindly provided 189 tamale dinners. Customers could "dine-in" or "take out". A traditional Mexican playlist accompanied dinner. Kitchen volunteers worked tirelessly to get meals plated. A Jackson group member brought along a Mexican vendor cart with authentic Mexican candy to sample for a suggested donation.
OWOF Board Member, Christa Williams MD, thanked and welcomed guests, and introduced Gayla Ignacio and Amador Ybarra, two of the representatives from Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition. They spoke about their group and its efforts to support and protect immigrants in Jackson County during the heightened, warrantless, ICE arrests of community members and the effect this is having on community members, local businesses and families.
A question and answer-session followed, allowing for further discussion of how their group is responding to the situation, and how concerned Chelsea residents may be able to assist.
The generosity and caring community spirit of Chelsea was evident throughout the evening. Many excellent conversations were had. More than one OWOF member heard "I hope you will be doing this again". And at the end of the evening, when volunteers were pitching in to clean up, we drew the winning 50/50 raffle ticket, which had just one word on it: "donate".
OWOF definitely looks forward to doing a similar fundraiser in the future.
