Asociación Tepeyac de New York keeps supporting the families of victims and unemployed of the WTC attack.

After one month of the tragedy, it can be accounted for that 100 families of missing persons have asked Asociación Tepeyac for help. There have been 31 persons found (26 Mexicans, 2 from Puerto Rico, 1 from El Salvador, 1 Ecuadorian, 1 Chinese) some were survivors and others had lost contact with their families during the first weeks following the tragedy. There has been only one declared as deceased: Henry Fernandez, from Ecuador. Asociación Tepeyac keeps providing help for the families of 65 missing persons: 1 Paraguayan, 1 Italian, 1 Bolivian, 1 from Belgium, 1 from an Unknown country, 2 Guatemalan, 2 Honduran, 2 Ecuadorians, 3 from El Salvador, 3 from Peru, 3 Colombian, 4 North Americans, 6 Puerto Ricans, 10 Dominicans and 25 Mexicans. More details on the web page www.tepeyac.org

Asociación Tepeyac has been providing assistance, for families both in New York as in their respective countries, to ensure that they follow all necessary procedures like filing a report and looking for support. There are still some cases that require more information that is still being obtained in different countries were communication has been harder. October 11^th and 12^th have been already set as deadlines for registration of some of the benefits that are being given for the families of the disappeared.

Other cases keep coming in, like Luis Morales (46) Honduran, or Fernando Jimenez Molina (21) from Oaxaca, Oax., Mexico, who came to New York three years ago and was working as a delivery boy in a pizzeria, two blocks from the twin towers. His roommates let his mother know, on September 11^th, that his son had not gotten back home. They told her they would help her find him, and look for the name of the pizzeria. They said that all who lived that apartment were undocumented and were afraid to report him anywhere. On the 12^th, his mother, Ms. Nora Elsa Molina, went to the External Relations Instance in Oaxaca, to get help in finding her son. They told her that she was most certainly looking for economic compensation and they took no information form her, saying that she didn’t have the exact information about the place he was working in. On September 20^th one of his roommates called her again to tell her they still hadn’t found him and they were unable to find the name of the pizzeria. Tepeyac is still trying to solve puzzles on several cases like this one.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, at 6:00 p.m., the Offices of Asociación Tepeyac have been full of undocumented workers that have been unemployed since September 11^th. Through the means of these registered workers, there are 59 lists of affected business establishments that have left 2866 unemployed workers, from which 1312 are undocumented (46% of the workers).This is still not the total of the affected establishments.

In the meetings held Tuesday and Thursday, workers are informed about the different kinds of help available for them, as well as the agreements Tepeyac is making with other institutions so that everybody can be eligible to receive help, regardless of their legal status.

Asociación Tepeyac asked for special support for undocumented workers, and Red Cross has installed a relief service in the office of Tepeyac, since Thursday October 4^th. The workers that had already been registered in Tepeyac’s meetings, can receive help for rent payments, different kinds of services and food. Asociación Tepeyac is looking for the same kind of help form other institutions to be able to get other kinds of support for unemployed undocumented workers that have registered. In each meeting the workers are invited to support one another in the search for new jobs.

Asociación Tepeyac received $20,000 from the National Syndicate Federation AFL-CIO to support affected families. It has started to be distributed mainly for those families who have not been able to obtain economic support easily or quickly, as well as for special cases.

Asociación Tepeyac de New York is doing it’s best to regain it’s normal activities, and is preparing adequate programs to be able to respond to the new situation of Latinos in New York.

Responsible: Joel Magallan, SJ /Executive Director Asociación Tepeyac