This story was updated at 1:03 p.m. on Monday, July 31.
FRAMINGHAM, MA — A dozen asylum-seeking families have been put up in a Framingham hotel as of Friday, city officials said.
As of Monday, the Jewish Family Service of Metrowest, which has experience supporting asylum seekers, has taken over helping find services for the families, according to officials.
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“They are assessing, they have the experience to make sure the right questions are being asked and the right services are being provided,” said State Rep. Jack Lewis on Monday.
The 39 people, who range in age from young children to adults, primarily speak Haitian Creole, officials told Patch on Monday.
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Mayor Charlie Sisitsky and the city’s legislative delegation were alerted by the state that this was happening on Friday. Immediately, city and state officials jumped into action.
According to Lewis, State Rep. Kate Donahue was helpful in the beginning stages of planning, as she recently helped as Northborough welcomed almost 100 new arrivals from South America and the Caribbean.
Lewis said Donahue informed him that “there may be more immediate needs than were going to be met that day,” which helped guide the group.
So what could be done?
“While in communication with state leaders and state agencies, [we] determined that there were needs that we could meet over the course of the weekend before a social service agency was in place to coordinate services on Monday,” said Lewis.
“Our primary objective over the course of the weekend was to make sure immediate needs were met so Jewish Family Service could bring in the appropriate folks on Monday.”
Over the weekend, immediate medical needs were met and the state began meeting with the asylum-seekers to organize whatever support systems they could.
Meals were secured for the dozen families, as was baby food, formula and snacks and fruit for in between meals.
“I want to thank all the many volunteers who stepped up over the weekend providing services to these asylum seekers from Haiti,” said Sisitsky.
The city has also worked closely with Framingham Public Schools, in particular translation services, and Metrowest Worker Center.
City and state officials have also already heard from many constituents asking how they can help and what they can donate. As of now, however, they need to get infrastructure and systems in place to be able to accept those donations.
So, official guidance is to be patient and hold off on those donations for now.
“We know a lot of people want to donate items and offer support, but we are not ready to accept donations from the community yet,” said Sisitsky.
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