Donations for Richmond-area migrant children to be collected at Common Book talk Valeria Luiselli, author of “Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions,” will speak Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Siegel Center.

A collection drive for migrant children in the Richmond area will culminate Wednesday at a talk by Valeria Luiselli, author of “Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions,” a book about the plight of undocumented children facing deportation from the United States, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s 2018 Common Book.

The collection drive, “Solidaridad y Apoyo en Richmond” (Solidarity and Support in Richmond), is seeking donations of new or gently used stuffed animals, children's books (especially Spanish/English), winter coats, and nonperishables such as peanut butter and canned meat, canned vegetables and canned fruit.

Donations will be collected at Luiselli’s talk, which will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at the Stuart C. Siegel Center, 1200 W. Broad St. The event will be free and open to the public.

“The solidarity drive provides an opportunity for VCU students and the VCU community to become more aware of the Latinx immigrant community living in Richmond. Contributing items to Richmond’s Sacred Heart Center helps to support the work Sacred Heart Center does in serving that community,” said Shelli Fowler, Ph.D., associate dean and director of the Common Book Program in University College.

The idea for the collective drive originated with VCU undergraduate student Melida Bueno, a junior majoring in English in the College of Humanities and Sciences, who served on the Common Book selection committee that chose “Tell Me How It Ends” and wanted to support undocumented children living in the Richmond area.

“Each year the Common Book that we select creates an opportunity for our first-year students and the VCU community to learn more about an important social issue,” Fowler said. “As we learned about the migration crisis and its effect on Latinx children, one of the student members on the Common Book selection committee wanted to create a way for VCU to be able to support our local community.”

The Common Book team connected with Tito Luna, neighborhood outreach director in the VCU Division of Community Engagement, and Anita Nadal, an assistant professor of Spanish in the School of World Studies and ambassador for the Division of Inclusive Excellence, and together they launched Solidaridad y Apoyo en Richmond.

Nadal reached out to the Sacred Heart Center and learned that new or gently used stuffed animals, Spanish/English language children's books, winter coats, and non-perishables were in constant need.

“Would you like to help children in Richmond eat tonight?” Nadal said, encouraging VCU and Richmond community members to participate. “Would you like to buy a book to help non-English speaking children learn how to read in English?”

Taking part in the collection drive are students and faculty in University College and the School of World Studies, and students in ASPiRE along with partners across campus, including the Division of Community Engagement, the Division of Inclusive Excellence, the Global Education Office, the VCU Globe and VCU LEAD living-learning communities, the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art, the Interfraternity Council at VCU, and Barnes and Noble @ VCU.

Sylvanna Bocook, a junior Spanish major, is participating through Nadal’s Spanish 322 service-learning course. Bocook said she feels it is important to help the migrant children because of the hardships they and their families are facing.

“More often than not these children are raised with the bare minimum, and if not, their parents are left with almost nothing, because they're bending in every way they can to give their children the lives they wish they had,” she said.

“We must also acknowledge the current situation where there are immigrant children being separated from their parents,” Bocook added. “Those that are not deported are left with any family member they can get in contact with even if those family members are not financially equipped to care for them, despite these reunions typically being planned prior to the journey as a backup measure.”

Ana Vergara, a senior in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences who is also in Nadal’s class, said the collection drive is important because it provides essentials for the children to eat and also to enjoy.

“Sometimes it's hard for parents to find the food for every day because they don't make enough to have a good meal and this way they can have some relief,” she said.

Laura Ortiz, a senior international studies major in the class, said: “It’s important because we know that these children make up such a large portion of the poor or underprivileged community. These children suffer and are frequently overlooked because they come from immigrant families. With the help of us and the rest of the community, we can change that and bring awareness to at least the people of Richmond.”

The collection drive is part of a series of events this fall at VCU inspired by, and related to, the themes of “Tell Me How It Ends.”

In early November, there was a forum on the MCV Campus for practitioners and academics experienced in trauma-informed care to discuss their work and the value of trauma-informed care, with a specific focus on the benefit when working with young refugees.

And in October, VCU faculty Gabriela Leon-Perez, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology; and Oswaldo Moreno, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology; along with Gustavo Angeles, Family Protection Project intake coordinator at Sacred Heart Center; VCU student Yanet Limon-Amado, co-founder of UndocuRAMs; and Richmond attorney and immigration law specialist Jacob Tingen, spoke at a panel discussion on the local impact of immigration policy and practice.

“The Common Book events that precede each year’s author's arrival work to provide a broader context in which to read and understand some of the real-world impacts of the book. This fall the solidarity drive became one small way for VCU students and our community to support those who work closely with Latinx children in Richmond by contributing items they indicated would be useful,” Fowler said.