As a border state, immigration is an important topic as the Hispanic community is close 50 percent of Austin’s total population. With that said, most immigrants don’t have a place to stay. Many are caught while trying to get to the U.S. and are put in jail until they find a way to pay or someone that can help them out. In Austin, Casa Marianella is a way for those immigrants to be in a better place and work on their plans for the future.
Casa Marianella is an emergency shelter that consists of three houses. The main house, where most residents live, and where the kitchen and office is located. The red house in front of it, where refugees from Africa stay and the white house next to it where there are more offices for the lawyers as well as a clinic, and where the ESL classes take place.
This house opened its doors on January 6, 1986 when Ed Wendler, a local Austin civic leader, decided after returning from El Salvador, to buy the house so that people fleeing wars from Central America could have a place to stay. Today, people from all over the world are welcome. Although, Casa is supposed to give shelter for only a month, residents may stay for longer periods of time until they find a place to stay. The biggest exceptions are the residents from Africa who are looking for legal protection and may stay up to one or two years.
Besides serving immigrants that come straight from their originals countries, Casa also serves immigrants who due to illness or injury become homeless. They are usually as its full capacity which is 35 residents, all adults and mainly man. Thanks to volunteers and low-paid workers, this house has been able to provide food, clothes, legal and medical assistance, and more important than that support and hope to hundreds and hundreds of people and continues to do so today.
If you want to have a better understanding of what Casa Marianella does, watch the video below.
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