I am excited to join a fundraising drive that engages poetry to support the Center for New Americans, an organization that serves refugees, migrants and immigrants by offering legal services, institutional advocacy, and language classes in Springfield, Greenfield, Northampton and Amherst. For thirty days in November, both emerging and seasoned writers will each write one poem a day that will be emailed to our individual sponsors.
What draws me to this fundraiser is that both the Center and this special fundraiser, counter the mad federal thrust to terrorize, deplete, and demean. "Poetry," Audre Lorde wrote, "is not a luxury," it is essential in resisting erasure and silence, and to cultivating practices of attention, care, and inspiration that manifest collective justice and peace.
Not only does this fundraiser help raise needed funds to do the daily gritty work that it takes to help people navigate an increasingly hostile immigration landscape, the act of writing poems and sharing them strengthens our community ties.
While I hope that you will sponsor me, please consider sponsoring more than one writer on the Center’s website, one poem, one dollar at a time.
Any amount you can afford is welcome. With gratitude, Vanessa.
