Frederica Freyberg:
But first, as tens of thousands of undocumented children enter the US from Central America, the federal government is seeking places for them to stay across the country. The city of Madison is looking around for adequate space, as is the city of Milwaukee. Father David Bergner, executive director of Catholic Charities of Milwaukee, is the point person in the effort to find shelter for the children. He joins us now from Milwaukee, and, Father, thanks very much for doing so.
David Bergner:
It’s a pleasure for me to be here with you.
Frederica Freyberg:
Did FEMA reach out to you directly for this help, or how did that happen?
David Bergner:
FEMA reached out to us through our parent organization in Alexandria, Virginia, Catholic Charities, USA. Catholic Charities has a long-term relationship with FEMA in responding to natural disaster relief missions, and this was apparently considered an extension of that mission. And we were asked by our office to scope out the area for potential sites to handle these children, perhaps as many as 300, but I think I dialed them back to about 100 thinking that would be a more realistic group to deal with.
Frederica Freyberg:
So what exactly then is FEMA looking for in terms of this space? What do they need to have?
David Bergner:
They are looking for space that is vacant and that could easily be retrofitted to care for children in every way. And so I was able to identify, actually in the course of a day or two, two vacant or near-vacant schools, one in Milwaukee, one in a Milwaukee suburb, and also a vacant office complex or building in northeastern Wisconsin. So FEMA now has the information, and we’re waiting for the next shoe to fall in terms of the request.
Frederica Freyberg:
The– go ahead. And that next shoe to fall would be the funding to actually make this happen?
David Bergner:
I think the funding from Washington is– was one part of it. Also, FEMA will need to make its arrangements with the various landlords for those spaces or– We assume it’s going to be one of the three as opposed to all three. And then it’s up to the owner, either religious community or a parish community, to make their individual agreements with FEMA relative to the use of the facility.
Frederica Freyberg:
So we talk about this and all of the things that kind of have to happen before these children could arrive here in Wisconsin. Is there a time line?
David Bergner:
No time line that I’m aware of at this point. However, when the children come, assuming they do come, the timetable we were told was 120 days. They felt for this number of children it would take approximately 120 days to process them through the immigration court in Chicago. Because of our proximity to Chicago, that’s one of the reasons we were chosen to participate and do what we can.
Frederica Freyberg:
Do you expect protests, as we’ve seen in other parts of the country?
David Bergner:
I– Personally, I don’t think so. Since I went on radio a few days ago, we’ve been getting– Looking at our traffic, our both telephone traffic and our emails, half are extremely favorable, including physicians, nurses, teachers willing and wanting to volunteer their services. And then the other half were people just wondering why we’re doing this, especially when we have so many needs in our community right now. But I don’t perceive an out-and-out hostility in those folks. I think they’re just questioning the reasons why. And of course, you know, we at Catholic Charities and in the church see this as an extension of our mission to welcome the stranger and care for the most vulnerable. So for us it’s a no-brainer. And we’d like people to maybe change the mindset a little bit to be able to be welcoming and hospitable, if called upon to host our children– the children from Central America.
Frederica Freyberg:
You know, I was just about– Before you started talking about that very issue, to ask you about that, critics who might say what about our own children who suffer here in poverty or violence. But presumably Catholic Charities of Milwaukee is already working with those children as well.
David Bergner:
Well, we are working, yes, in the community in southeastern Wisconsin. For example, last year we were able to serve over 27,000 people. And of course those needs continue on a day-to-day basis, and we need to continue to work to address those needs, and we will. We have the resources. We have wonderful community-based organizations within our community that are assisting. And so we feel, you know, we’re going to continue on that mission with our partners in the community, but we are being asked to do something very specific for a limited time. And I think we should be able to do that. You know, I’m reminded of a praise from the Talmud, To save one person is to save the entire world. That’s an extremely idealistic mindset, but I think if we take that seriously we can extend ourselves to these children in their time of need.
Frederica Freyberg:
Father Bergner, thanks very much for joining us, and good luck with this.
David Bergner:
Thank you for having me, and thanks for your interest in this important issue.
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