SAN ANTONIO — In the last three months, more than 11,000 migrants have spent a night at Travis Park Church as they seek asylum in the United States. Many of the migrants arrive in the United States with practically nothing.
But a glimpse inside a makeshift workshop in one of the meeting rooms at the church is hoping to fix that.
"Isn't it fabulous?" Kathleen Laborde said as she took in the group of women that spent their Sunday afternoon volunteering by her side.
KENS 5 first introduced you to Kathleen and her daughter Isabel at their San Antonio home where an idea to help migrant children was born. The duo made dolls the children can play with and sleep on through their travels.
"We want them to look at these little faces and say, 'oh, that's a friend, that's my pal,'" Laborde said as she held up a doll she now calls Puente Pals.
Now just a few short weeks and 50 dolls later, the idea has turned into a well-oiled machine as volunteers like Sharon Young joined in on the efforts.
"I was homeless for quite a while. I could kind of relate to not having much and coming somewhere to this church, where people do care," Young said. "So I decided that this would be a good thing for me to at least do something to help."
Help that this group will continue to provide as they work to make this doll-making workshop a tradition on the first Sunday of each month, to try and provide children a little piece of comfort in what may feel like their darkest days.
"The horrible conditions that these children are in does not define us. What defines us is the heart that goes into what we're trying to do make it better for the children," Laborde said.
If you're interested in making Puente Pal T-shirt dolls as well, you can find instructions on how to do so on the Puente Pal Dolls Facebook page.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: