Live-in Volunteer at Casa Alitas

Save to Favorites

For over two years, the Alitas Program of Catholic Community Services has been giving aid to migrant women and children, mostly from Central America. Our guests have been released from Border Patrol custody on humanitarian parole and need assistance in continuing their journey to reunite with family members in the U.S. Casa Alitas provides hospitality and humanitarian aid to our guests by offering food, beds, clothing, toiletries, legal orientation, and assistance making travel arrangements.

At times, Alitas is also able to provide temporary housing to unaccompanied minors who have migrated to the U.S. and have aged out of government youth shelters. During their stay at Alitas, teens are provided with food, clothing, transportation, educational services, and recreational activities.

Alitas depends almost entirely on volunteers who are able to staff the house and assist our guests. Basic volunteer duties consist of:

• Responding to phone calls from Border Partrol and welcoming new families to Casa Alitas
• Conducting short intake interviews
• Basic domestic upkeep (i.e. cooking, cleaning, laundry)
• Helping families make phone calls to the U.S. and their home countries
• Assisting with travel arrangements
• Providing brief legal orientation to families
• Waiting with families at the bus station or airport and helping to explain their tickets.

Each family's needs are different and other duties may arise. Volunteers need to be flexible and willing to take initiative.

Live-in volunteers will be expected to work 25 hours per week, in addition to being in charge of responding to calls on the on-call phone 5 nights per week (there are rarely calls during the night, but if the volunteer did need to respond to something, the hours required would count toward the 25 hours for that week). Volunteers can be more involved if they choose to be. A minimum commitment of 2 weeks is desired.

Live-in Volunteers are required to speak intermediate Spanish. They are also required to have a driver’s license and may use the Alitas mini-van or their own vehicle to transport guests to the bus station. They will also need to complete a background check for an Arizona Level 1 Fingerprint Clearance. The cost will be covered by Alitas.

Volunteers will be provided with a private bedroom at Casa Alitas and a shared bathroom. Casa Alitas is a 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a residential neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona. The house has laundry facilities; air conditioning and central heating; a full kitchen, with a stove, oven, dishwasher, and microwave. Volunteers will be provided with food and can choose to eat with the guests or prepare their own food. The house has a TV, computer and wifi. It is a short walk from a park, various restaurants, coffee shops, a grocery store, a gym, and a yoga studio.