A local shelter took in 100 immigrants this week. While, it’s not news directly related to Southborough — given our shared school district, and other town partnerships, I’m sharing the call for support from Northborough.
Northborough officials and our state representative are working with other state officials to provide help for the 30 families who were just set up at a Northborough hotel. A registry to purchase needed supplies has been created. Donations can be dropped off at the Northborough Police Department.
Below is the full announcement:
As of Thursday, July 27th, the Town of Northborough welcomed approximately 100 new arrivals from South America and the Caribbean. There are 30 families with a total of 40 children, 23 of which are under the age of 5. These families recently arrived to Massachusetts. They will enter the Emergency Assistance Family Shelter System as asylum seekers and are currently homeless because of their new arrival status. Northborough Town Officials are working closely with State agencies, as well as Senator Robyn Kennedy, Representative Meghan Kilcoyne, and Representative Kate Donaghue to support these families.
The Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities (EOHLC), specifically the Division of Housing Stabilization, is responsible for administration of the Emergency Assistance Family Shelter System, which is obligated under the Right to Shelter statute to shelter all eligible unhoused families with at least one child (defined as under 21). Due to a recent surge in the number of homeless families in Massachusetts, the Office of Refugees & Immigrants (ORI), has begun placing family into hotels as a last resort. The Department of Public Health (DPH) is supporting health and medical needs of new arrivals and as of today, a Rapid Response Team including nurses were onsite to assess medical needs.
The Northborough Health Department is currently serving as the primary point of contact for this site and will be coordinating directly with local non-profit, faith-based groups, and civic organizations to coordinate additional support for these families. We are in most urgent need of formula, diapers, and wipes. We recreated a Target Community Registry for requested items – see https://www.target.com/
gift-registry/gift/ . Please do not purchase Target Gift cards at this time (by default this is an option in the registry). We will continue to add items to this registry as needs arise. At this time we are NOT collecting used clothing, toys or household items. Requested items on the Target Registry may be dropped off at the Northborough Police Department 24-7. Thank you in advance!nboronewarrivalneeds
