Imagine leaving everything you've ever known: the familiarity of home, the faces of friends, the streets you've walked since childhood. For millions, this scenario has become a bitter reality. Migrants around the world flee homes riddled with instability and violence, seeking safety, asylum and a chance at a new beginning.

What is the Migrant Crisis?

The current migrant crisis refers to the unprecedented movement of large groups of people displaced from their home countries due to various reasons including conflict, persecution, climate change and economic instability. 

The growing crisis in Latin America is especially notable, with more than 6.1 million Venezuelans fleeing their homes. Factors including violence, increasing crime rates, gang influence, and food and medicine shortages are forcing millions to flee.

As members of the global Church, we must respond to Christ’s call to care for the vulnerable. Below are four actions you can take now to help migrants in this time of crisis.

4 Ways You Can Help Migrants

Volunteer Your Time

Volunteering your time directly impacts the lives of migrants. By engaging with organizations that support migrants, you actively contribute to your local community. This may include volunteering at local food shelters, organizing or contributing to care package drives, teaching language classes, or offering legal assistance.

You can search for opportunities to volunteer in your local community through VolunteerMatch.

Give to an Organization Supporting Migrants

Donating to organizations that provide essential support and supplies to migrants where they are most needed is a tangible way to make a difference. Nonprofits often work directly in high-traffic border areas or in communities heavily impacted by incoming migrants. Even small donations can help sustain their operations and make a significant impact.

Consider contributing to our Ecuador Feeding Program, an initiative aimed at addressing the immediate nutritional and basic needs of migrants seeking asylum in South America.

Advocate for the Migrant Crisis

Awareness and understanding are the first steps toward change. Lack of information often leads to indifference or misunderstanding about the migrant crisis. Advocacy involves educating others, including friends, family and policymakers about the realities of migration today. Writing to local representatives or using social media platforms to share accurate information are powerful ways to advocate for migrants.

Discover more information about migration advocacy through the Migration Policy Institute.

Pray for the Migrants and Their Families

Prayer is a powerful tool for change. By praying for migrants and their families, we ask God to provide strength, comfort and protection to those in need. Prayer also unites us as a community, reminding us of our shared humanity and the teachings of Christ to care for the vulnerable.

Join Divine Word Missionaries in Helping Migrants

Through volunteering, advocating, praying, or donating, you have the power to uplift migrants worldwide, no matter where you are.

As Divine Word Missionaries, we care for our global Church and seek to see Christ in those in need. Through the Ecuador Feeding Program, your contribution goes directly to providing crucial assistance to those on the frontline of the migrant crisis.

Make a difference in the lives of migrants today and please give to the Ecuador Feeding Program today.