Amid migrant surge, immigrants' children in Philly are helping kids at Texas border

The children at Casa del Sagrado Corazon in El Paso aren't going to stay there very long.

The temporary shelter is just one stop on a very long journey for them and their families − one that might have started in Venezuela or Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras, Colombia or Nicaragua. It's taken them across deserts and through jungles, far from the desperation, poverty and violence they knew at home.

Volunteers and Jesuit clergy at the Catholic Church where the shelter is located take in donations, but "children are the demographic (of migrants) that is least supported," Michael DeBruhl, the shelter director, said. "You think, well, we know people are coming so let's get them clothes and toiletries and other necessities, but you don't always think about how a lot of them are children."

But other children in Philadelphia are thinking about the kids at Casa del Sagrado Corazon. They're making bags full of candy, coloring books, puzzles, small stuffed animals and pocket-size games for the shelter's young people to take to their next stop − wherever that might be.

Who are these pint-size helping hearts? Sons and daughters of immigrants themselves, who are paying it forward by sending "Mighty Bags" to the border.

Children of immigrants helping migrants' children

Mighty Writers, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, is behind the outpouring of goodwill. The group, which has chapters that include Camden, Atlantic City and Newark, New Jersey; Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; and El Paso, Texas, offers educational, afterschool and literacy programs for more than 4,500 children and teens. Its original mission of promoting literacy for children in underserved communities has now expanded into family support, including food and diaper distributions.

"A lot of our children know about migration because they know the transition their own parents made, not necessarily as refugees but as immigrants coming to the United States," said Sara Dickens-Trillo, senior director of Mighty Writers El Paso. Dickens-Trillo, who grew up in Mexico and El Paso, used to work with Mighty Writers El Futuro in Kennett Square, a farming community in Chester County known as the Mushroom Capital of the World.

She returned to El Paso, her family home, in 2023 and began a new Mighty Writers program in the border town. Mighty Writers founder and executive director Tim Whitaker came up with the idea to help children at the migrant shelter there.

Claudia Peregrina, director of Mighty Writers El Futuro in South Philadelphia, said many of the children she works with have parents who work multiple jobs to support their families − particularly Philadelphia's restaurant and hospitality employees, construction workers, nannies and housekeepers.

Many of the children at Mighty Writers in South Philadelphia come from Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru. They need support while their parents work: help learning English, acclimating to U.S. schools and maintaining their own cultural identities, Peregrina said.

"As immigrants, we bring a lot of great things to the United States," said Peregrina, a native of Mexico City who's worked as an art therapist, educator and translator. "We work very hard; a lot of our parents work two and three jobs."

Mighty Writers, which serves more than 50 children in South Philadelphia, offers instruction in creative writing and literacy, as well as homework support, mentorship, social and emotional support and cultural programs. There are programs for teens and younger children, even "mommy and me" sessions for newer moms with babies and toddlers.

As they created the bags, teachers spoke with the children about the challenges migrants face, the difficulties of traveling on foot, crossing the border and finding a home in a new country.

"They know, even with all they're facing themselves, how lucky they are," Peregrina said. "We talk about their blessings, feeling grateful for the good things you have and feeling empathy and supporting others. It's important because they feel they have so much in common (with the children at the migrant shelter)."

A short respite for migrants on a long journey

The shelter at Sacred Heart Church in El Paso opened in December 2022, said DeBruhl, who took over a year later after retiring from law enforcement. It operates mostly on donations from individuals, religious and philanthropic organizations and some reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

It's been well over its original capacity of 120 people. DeBruhl said when he arrived in December 2023, there were 1,000 people, and numbers have climbed as high as 1,300. Currently, he said, "it's diminished significantly," averaging about 80 to 90 people, most from Venezuela "with a sprinkling from other places in South and Central America."

"We are an emergency 24-hour shelter," he said. "We offer help with basic needs: showers, meals, a place to stay for a night. This is meant to be a stop on their way somewhere else."

The shelter recently began enrichment programs and brought in psychologists for the children.

"Before we began the enrichment, we might have 50 kids running around, being boisterous, being kids," he said. "Their parents are exhausted from keeping track of them and from walking through sometimes eight, nine countries, through the Darien Gap (a particularly difficult stretch of jungle terrain)."

"We asked (Mighty Writers children) to come up with ways to help these children on a difficult journey," Dickens-Trillo said. "Not so much to think about where they might sleep or eat, but ways to help them have a few minutes of peace and relaxation."

"We've had trouble getting Spanish books and other things to entertain the children: toys, books, puzzles, things that might be educational," DeBuhl said.

Mighty Writers bags included puzzles of U.S. maps, books in Spanish, little craft kits to keep small hands occupied.

"We're really happy they can support us and support the children," DeBuhl said. "They can be entertained by something that keeps them using their minds creatively. That is a real boon to them, and to their parents."

Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amid migrant surge, children of immigrants are paying it forward