After school program participants at Cristo Rey.

El Paso Border Support and Outreach

Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, listens and responds with compassion and wisdom to the cries of the world. We have all been watching with great concern the progress of our courageous neighbors who have been forced from their homes by frightening violence and threat to seek asylum in the US. We might wonder, what can we do when the problem is so great?

Last year, I spent a week in El Paso at the Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey for a border immersion experience with students from my school. The experience was so transformative that it inspired me to find ways to enable our sangha to participate in this vital work to bridge the divisions and offer needed aid. 

Pastora Rose Mary, whose church supports refugees and migrants, is a beacon for all of us as she hears the cries of the world and responds with a warm smile and a helping hand. She has put together a wish list on Cristo Rey's website. We at Houston Zen Center would like to do what we can to help her fulfill those wishes, providing her with the funds to buy school clothes, school supplies, and medicine for people in dire need. Please, see the wish list of items that will be purchased with our donations.

Methods for giving: you can give here, or you can give with a check (please, include a memo line notation) or with cash in an envelope labeled “El Paso” at Houston Zen Center. Any amount will be beneficial for this ongoing and much needed work.

If you have questions about the work Cristo Rey does, contact Rev. Sengetsu Tricia McFarlin or visit Cristo Rey’s website here.