What is Plattsburgh Cares?

2017-2025
Our mission is to assist immigrants, migrants and other vulnerable people in our community
to achieve their goals safely and responsibly with compassion, justice and respect for all.

Plattsburgh Cares assists those in our region in need of temporary shelter, food, transportation,
medical, legal and childcare assistance. We strive to protect those vulnerable visitors and
provide information to empower them to make good decisions.
Plattsburgh Cares was formed in April, 2017. At that time members of our community began to
discuss the effects that the political situation around the world had on our local area. Our
attention was brought to the situation at Roxham Road, where many individuals and families
were attempting to cross into Canada to seek asylum but were not prepared to handle the
weather conditions, financial burdens or delays that forced them into difficult and dangerous
situations. From a humanitarian perspective we wanted to understand what kind of help we
could provide to the immigrants and refugees. We formed an Executive Committee, filed as a
501c3 in October, 2017, and created our mission statement: to assist immigrants and others in
our community to achieve their goals safely and responsibly with compassion, justice and
respect for all.

Over the next eight years, we coordinated our efforts in order to provide direct support for
those coming through our area, as well as those settling in our community. We partner with
other agencies, community activists, religious groups and government agencies in the US and
Canada. Our local partners include Joint Council for Economic Opportunity of Clinton and
Franklin Counties (JCEO), Department of Social Services (DSS), Literacy Volunteers, Champlain
Valley Physicians Hospital (University of Vermont Health Network), American Friends of
Refugees and Immigrants (AFRI), St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center and cross-border
groups. In addition, Plattsburgh Cares partners with the Governor’s Office for New Americans
(ONA), New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and the United Nations Office of the High
Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), both in Canada and the US.

Initially, Plattsburgh Cares hosted forums to provide education, information and resources for
those in need and their allies. Much of our work in our early stage involved education and
communication. In order to connect with and inform others of the situation at the border, we
established a Facebook page and a website, of the safety and support concerns at the border,
citing the most current information and offering many resources for help. We created flyers that
were translated into various languages, for distribution at train and bus stations and for general
circulation, communicating accurate information regarding the options, hurdles and resources
for seeking refugee status in Canada. According to Canadian government figures, more than
10,000 people who crossed at the irregular borders filed refugee claims from mid-March to the end of September, 2017. These crossing were primarily at Roxham Road, since it is the easiest,
least dangerous northern border crossing.

For years, deepening national and international conflicts related to political unrest, climate and
financial crises, and violence kept Roxham Road very active and busy, except when the border
was closed due to the pandemic. Plattsburgh Cares maintained an ongoing presence at Roxham
Road, handing out coats, hats, mittens, scarves, snacks and toys and bearing witness to the
treatment of those crossing. When the border was reopened in 2022, over 3,000 people
crossed each month.

On the local scene, we have provided instrumental support for individuals and families who
were able and qualified to stay in our community, integrating them with many services, from
shelter, clothing, food, supplies, transportation, health care, schooling, child care, employment
and education connections, and legal consultation. We try to help those not eligible or not able
to stay in our community to get to where they need to be safely and responsibly.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the situation at the border became even more
dire and difficult than before. This resulted in an overwhelming rise in the humanitarian crisis in
Plattsburgh. The months-long closing of the Canadian border (DATES), the suspension of
commercial bus and train service, and a steady stream of migrants, immigrants and refugees still
seeking to cross put us on the front lines of service.

Since the reopening of the border (DATE), and as the numbers indicate, there was a constant
flow of individuals and families needing support of all kinds. Most travelers had spent all their
resources to arrive at the border. As winter approaches, asylum seekers, especially from the
south, who have never seen snow, wear socks with rubber flip-flops for shoes and have no
gloves, hats or scarves. They are in need of emergency shelter, food, proper clothing for the
weather, personal items (from medications to diapers), healthcare, transportation and
connections to legal assistance.

With the fallout from the pandemic and the financial and political unrest that we are all
witnessing nationally and internationally, the needs of so many place large financial burdens on
Plattsburgh Cares and our other partners. We are responding; but the desperation of individuals
is also growing. Despite our efforts to inform families that it is not safe to attempt to cross
without (1) a plan, (2) consultation with a trusted immigration attorney, and (3) financial
resources for their journey and resettlement, people are still risking everything to seek asylum
in Canada. We partner with local agencies, charities and interfaith volunteers to stretch our dollars and provide for the families who have chosen Plattsburgh as their new home. We do our best to provide housing, food, supplies, transportation to safe places, connections to legal assistance and more to those families, whether they be in transition elsewhere and are able to stay in this community.
[We were also aware of the concurrent situation in NYC, where the mayor had declared a state
of emergency due to the influx of migrants seeking asylum. We braced ourselves to deal with
the overflow that was likely to move up to our area.]

Plattsburgh Cares (PC) gets referrals regarding asylum seekers stranded at the border via word
of mouth, DSS, JCEO, and directly through the Customs and Border Protection. During the
colder months, we typically provide hats, gloves and other immediate necessities, and pay for a
taxi to a safer location. Without the intervention of PC volunteers, we fear that many people
would become stranded in the winter, without adequate clothing, food or shelter, and no
transportation. PC arranges (1) emergency housing with Department of Social Services, which
can pay for one night if the referral comes in after hours and (2) food and whatever personal
items the family needs to be safe.

We have been extremely fortunate to work with volunteer interpreters who empathically assist
with communication. PC continues to feed, clothe and house travelers until they make a plan for
their next steps. We connect folks to legal support and possible housing in other locations. We
arrange transportation to their next destination with the help of our partners and other agencies.

Plattsburgh Cares has worked closely with an Albany-based legal advocate with Prisoner Legal
Services, and others. Volunteers have met approximately fifty federal detainees (mostly women)
as they have exited Clinton County Jail after either being bonded out or released on their own
recognizance. Volunteers assist with transportation, emergency food, overnight
accommodations, clothing and phones, when needed. Volunteers assist with interpretation
(most speak no English) and help with getting people to the bus stop or airport, on their way to
be reunited with family or a sponsor.

The financial outlay for each case can be enormous, and includes motels, food, provision of
personal items, and transportation. We do the best we can to access available services in the
community (e.g., via St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center, DSS, community food shelves);
but this does not preclude a considerable outlay of our funds. Asylum seekers sometimes come
in waves of 6-12 family groups at a time. Approximately 98% of all Plattsburgh Cares expenses are for direct support.

We are 100% volunteer driven. Our Executive Committee does much of the work with additional support
from volunteers. 100% of grant funds are used for supportive care services. Money is needed
for transportation (taxis, buses) to emergency housing, appointments, and to the refugee’s next
destination; temporary lodging; food and personal necessities (including diapers). As noted, we

use the funds as judiciously as possible. We work closely with other community resources and
the refugees themselves to see if they have access to resources to help pay for some of these
services.
One of our most significant assets is the strong and caring network that we have developed with
local agencies and individual volunteers. We share the burden of care and financial resources as
much as we possibly can. However, the need often outstrips the resources of our partner
agencies.

We know that press coverage boosts donations. When we started Plattsburgh Cares in 2017, we
had forums to sensitize our community to the issue of refugees traveling through our area
hoping to emigrate to Canada. The community responded generously to the media exposure we
solicited. Subsequent local and national stories about our work have resulted in mini-floods of
donations.

However, we work to maintain a low profile since an incident in 2018 when Plattsburgh Cares
became ensnared in Canadian politics. Much of our early efforts in 2017 involved
communication: trying to share accurate information from the Canadian government website
with potential travelers and interested refugees. We received clearance for information in our
flyers and on our website from the Canadian government. However, we inadvertently became
embroiled in the struggles between liberal and conservative wings of Canadian government that
resulted in considerable hate mail and threats on our Facebook page. Because of the continuing
political controversy, we adopted a stance of not bringing undue attention to our humanitarian
activities.

The expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement in March, 2023, affected those seeking
asylum in Canada via irregular crossings; Roxham Road was closed. This resulted in hundreds of
refugees being turned back at the border. Our limited resources could not keep abreast of our
efforts to meet the needs of those stranded in Plattsburgh. Plattsburgh Cares had to take a step
back and reorganize to continue to meet our mission.

We implemented a plan to focus our efforts on ensuring that those who are homeless,
transition to safer spaces (such as refugees caught up in the immigration crises), or the food
insecure are able to feed themselves and their families when there are no other resources
available to them. We maintain our ongoing partnerships with local service organizations and
faith communities in this work.

Feeding stranded refugees, travelers stuck in our area and those who are homeless and living in
emergency housing. We stock the local hotels where DSS puts up stranded folks, public spaces
where people who are food and shelter insecure gather (Plattsburgh Public Library, DSS lobby,

Emergency Room at CVPH, Mayor’s Office in Champlain, NY) with bags of nonperishable food.
We try to provide as nutritious food as possible that can be eaten with little or no preparation.
We include breakfast, main meals and snacks for two to three days. We check with the hotels
and replenish their food bags every 2-3 weeks. We are still called upon to fill the need for bus
tickets, taxis and lodging when there are no other resources to respond to emergencies,
especially when families with children are involved.
Most families who request help have used all their resources to get here; they are unable to
meet their basic needs while in Plattsburgh or transitioning elsewhere on their journey. They
need food, shelter, supplies (formula, diapers, soap, detergent, medicine, etc.) and safe
transportation (bus tickets, taxis, trains, etc.) to shelters out of this area or other supports; they
need car seats, snacks and supplies for the trip. With colder weather, the possibility of a
catastrophic event for a family is a reality without appropriate food, clothing and shelter; in
addition, individuals and families are at risk of exploitation by traffickers and other criminals.