Border crisis community forum held in Cathedral City

Local activists held a community forum Saturday, fundraising and bringing awareness to the border crisis. It was at the Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City.

“We see a lot of people that are sleeping in the streets, sleeping in the parks and puts them at risk for people taking advantage of them,” said Yolanda Brown, who led the event. She’s the director of advocacy for Border Kindness, a non-profit that responds to the needs of migrants and refugees.

“Right now we’re feeding about 500 people a day,” Brown said. “If there’s no room for them at the shelter, they’re faced with all that poverty, all that stress and seeing their kids going hungry because there’s no food for them or no available resources.”

Donations were collected at the event, ranging from underwear, socks and backpacks to trash bags and personal care items.

Additioanlly, more than $1,800 was raised to help pay for meals at shelters.

“Fantastic, very exciting,” Brown said. “That’s going to buy a lot of meals so we’re excited for that.”

Lynne O’Neill, a local activist with the East West Alliance, helped organize the forum, hoping to counter confusion and misinformation.

“Everyone should look to themselves and say in this particular era, what can we do to practice kindness, what can we do to make an impact on the community,” O’Neill said.

People at the event were urged to take action.

“If anybody has time to volunteer, doesn’t necessarily have to be with us, we just want people to get involved and to be aware of all the things that are going on in our country,” Brown said.