Refugee Aid is a community-based organization committed to assisting refugee families and singles who are seeking asylum in the United States.

We assist refugees who, having entered the formal legal asylum-seeking process, pass through Phoenix in route to their sponsors in other parts of the United States. Some of the thousands of destitute and traumatized refugee families and singles who were stranded at our southern border have at last been able to enter the US to exercise their lawful right to apply for asylum. Many arrive in Phoenix destitute, with no money, no cellphone and no food. They find respite at the Welcome Center in Phoenix while they await travel to sponsors across the US. With the assistance of our volunteers and donors, Refugee Aid is able to support the vital work of the Welcome Center as well as Phoenix area churches who provide similar aid.  We help provide food, clothing, shelter and transportation aid to the families.

We also deliver hundreds of pounds of supplies to homeless shelters in Mexico each week, including food, toiletries, clothing and cleaning supplies. We focus our relief efforts on the city of Mexicali, Mexico, a large city of one million residents. There is very little aid entering the city from the United States and much need on the part of the refugee and asylum-seeking families seeking shelter there. More than 5,000 refugees, primarily women and children, reside in shelters and on the streets in Mexicali. Our Mexicali aid partners assists us in getting supplies to where they are most needed. Refugee Aid, through its committed volunteers, delivered approximately 12 tons of supplies to homeless shelters for women and children in Mexicali in 2020.

In addition, Refugee Aid partners with a local church ministry in providing assistance to asylum seeking detainees who have just been released from detention. Single individuals, both men and women, who enter the U.S. seeking asylum are immediately placed in a detention center, including those individuals with no criminal history. A very small number of these detainees have family members or friends who can post bond and obtain their release. ICE then releases these asylum seekers, as young as 18 or as old as 80, late at night with no money, no cellphone, no food, and often with no travel arrangements to reach their sponsor, which can involve a lengthy trip. We support our church partner in assisting released detainees, giving these asylum seekers travel food, blankets, jacket. Also, kindness and respect.

Please browse our website. We hope that you will conclude that Refugee Aid serves a just cause that you would like to support. Please see our Donate and Volunteer pages to learn how you can serve.

With sincere gratitude,

Mary Jo Forman Miller
Founder and Executive Director, Refugee Aid

Refugee Aid is a project of the Southwest Heritage Foundation, a 501c(3) nonprofit corporation. All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. All donations will be acknowledged in writing. Our tax exempt number is EIN 61-1423580.