Updated: 17 hours ago
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Inside the walls of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, Maria Chavalan Sut found a home.
She’s a refugee seeking asylum from Guatemala and is staying at the church in Charlottesville. Now, she can go outside, because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) just gave her a one-year-long Stay of Removal.
“Muy feliz,” Chavalan said in an interview. That translates to “very happy.”
She continued, through a translator: “It was wonderful news. It was news about my liberation.”
Chavalan has lived at the church for 925 days - that’s since 2018 - to avoid deportation. She says the church’s embrace is a story of generosity.
“They were welcoming and it represents acceptance of humanity,” she said through the translator. “I am an indigenous woman and they accepted me as I am.”
Rosina Snow, who is the church’s director of Christian discipleship, says they were just doing what Jesus, and the Bible, taught them.
“It’s not so much that we’re patting ourselves on the back, we’re so great,” Snow said. “This feels like the very least that we can do in a world as broken and with as much suffering as there is.”
Snow is encouraging others to follow along and show holy love, dignity, and respect to everyone.
“It’s a gift and a blessing to be able to share in that love and to live in that way,” she said.
The stay isn’t the end of Chavalan’s legal battle, but it does give her an extra year to fight her deportation order. The church said in a press release that the order was issued after she “did not attend a required July 2017 Immigration Court hearing whose date and time she never received notice of.”
“This is a victory,” she said through her interpreter. “It’s like a small vaccine for justice and we need more doses for justice.”
She says every church should follow the example of Wesley Memorial, which opened their doors for her, accepted her, and even offered their sacrament.
Chavalan’s lawyer, Alina Kilpatrick said in a statement: “ICE did the right thing granting this Stay. I have faith that President Biden will fix our broken immigration system, including how immigrants receive notice of their court dates. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the legal duty to inform noncitizens of the date and time of their court hearings. Hopefully, the new administration will provide ICE/DHS with the resources they need to follow the law.”
Updated: 17 hours ago
Updated: 17 hours ago
AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) — April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Shenandoah Valley Social Services is raising awareness by planting pinwheel gardens.
The pinwheels serve as a reminder that abuse can take form in many ways. It can be physical, sexual, mental or emotional and neglect.
Some indicators that a child may be experiencing abuse are suspicious injuries, a child being withdrawn, hungry or having poor hygiene.
If you find that a child is being impacted by abuse, you can call Shenandoah Valley Social Services at 540-245-5800, option 6.
They say their goal is to have children stay safe and in their homes.
“We are trying to make sure that the children stay in their home and that they stay safe, and they’re in the communities that where they’re familiar with, but they’re free from being harmed,” Amber Martino, Child Protective Services Supervisor for Shenandoah Valley Social Services, said.
And that is why they’re hoping to raise awareness of the different resources they have available.
“Providing meaningful interventions, parenting classes through the Office on Youth, counseling, we work very closely with the Child Advocacy Center,” Martino said.
With more students at home over the past year, there has been a lot of concern for children. Working from home means, they’re not completely visible by teachers, who are mandated reporters.
However, other agencies have stepped up to help.
“Like the schools providing food and the electric companies giving a lot of extensions on bills, so a lot of things that we may assist with to prevent child abuse and neglect or to help that situation, the community provided it for them,” Martino said.
You can find more information on prevention and other resources on the Shenandoah Valley Social Services Facebook page.
Updated: 17 hours ago
PAGE COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) - COVID-19 vaccines continue going into arms and around the Shenandoah Valley, volunteers are needed to keep those efforts moving forward.
The Lord Fairfax Health District (LFHD) and Valley Health have been working to get those in Page County, Shenandoah County, and beyond vaccinated.
Right now, more than half of the work at vaccine clinics is being done by volunteers, but as regular business in clinics and operating rooms pick up, Dr. Jeffery Feit, the Chief Population and Community Health Officer with Valley Health, said they will need more volunteers to continue and finish vaccinating the community.
While some positions require clinical licensure/certification, others are available to people of all abilities. Valley Health needs both clinical and non-clinical volunteers to help give shots or register and log information. Health professionals and health care students are welcome to apply.
Pharmacists, veterinarians, dentists and respiratory therapists are a few on the long list of professions that are able to administer vaccines.
If you sign up, Feit said be prepared to be emotionally impacted by the work you’re doing.
“Compared to a year of people kind of walking on eggshells and worrying about where things are going next, you walk into a COVID-19 vaccine clinic and you are immediately overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for the science and a sense of hope for the future,” Feit said. “It is the most fun place I have been over the course of the last few months.”
Throughout the LFHD, Feit said they have more than 50,000 people left to vaccinate. Now that distribution of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is paused, that is over 100,000 doses of vaccines that need to go into arms.
Valley Health is accepting volunteers at the James. R. Wilkins Athletics & Events Center at Shenandoah University, Winchester Medical Center Conference Center, the Luray VFW and Warren County Health and Human Services.
To become a volunteer at one of the COVID-19 vaccine clinics, email vaccinevolunteer@valleyhealthlink.com.
Many shifts are available at each location for first and second-dose clinics. Once you have filled out an application, a staff member will be in touch with you to begin the scheduling process.
For more information on volunteering with Valley Health, click here.