From October 18, 2017 until March 13, 2021 Lucio Perez, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala found sanctuary at First Church. Some 469 people and institutions gave 1,480 gifts totaling $224,242.97 to the Immigrant Sanctuary Fund to support both Lucio and his Springfield family as well as Irida Kakhtiranova, an undocumented Russian immigrant who found sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Northampton and Florence.

Now, both Lucio and Irida are out of sanctuary and at home with their families. Accordingly and as of April 30, 2022, the Immigrant Sanctuary Fund is closed to further donations, since federal law prohibits not-for-profit entities like First church to solicit donations to be earmarked for a specific individual. While Lucio and Irida are out of sanctuary, they welcome your donations to underwrite their legal expenses for their fight to remain legally in the United States. You can do that through direct donations to their respective GoFundMe sites:

Lucio Perez: click here

Irida Kakhtiranova: click here

Thank you!