(bright music) (camera beeping) (casual upbeat music) - Thanks for joining us.

I'm Fred Martino.

"In Focus" today, a helping hand in Illinois.

Up front, the story of Kathy Smith, the founder of PBJ Springfield.

She is making a difference by providing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to those without homes.

Her organization now makes some 2000 sandwiches every week.

Julie Staley has more.

- Addressing the issue of homelessness can be complex, but one Central Illinois woman is making a difference with something as simple as a sandwich.

(soft music) Kathy Smith knows there are layers of issues that can bring someone to homelessness.

- After my mother died recently from cancer, I was, for the first time in my life, I dealt with homelessness for about a year.

- I lost my sister when she got murdered in Decater, and that really put a hold on my heart.

It did, it really screwed me up.

I don't even know how I made it through them years.

It's getting very stressful, waiting on an apartment which is supposed to happen any day, hopefully.

I'm praying to God it does.

- [Julie] One simple item is making such big changes for the homeless that many people are calling it gold.

- They are terming peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as gold.

- They are like gold to us.

They are.

- So we started out making 30, 40, or 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and I put it on Facebook that I needed some help.

And so it grew from there.

Then the Washington Street Mission found out about it.

They said we could use that for breakfast.

Well then more people got involved, so then I had too many again, and I took it to the Breadline, and they serve them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

- [Julie] Kathy started the organization PBJ Springfield out of her home, and delivers to many area charities that serve the homeless.

Now she and her volunteers make 2000 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a week.

- The poverty is so bad right now with the price of groceries.

I see more and more families going to the Breadline.

I've met mothers and fathers stopping by, and they'll ask me for a couple boxes of peanut butter jelly sandwiches to take home.

They say I work, but we can't afford the food anymore.

- I know she'll pull over if she sees a group of homeless people sitting there on the corner.

Down the street from us quite a ways, there's a group, and she'll just get out and hand it to 'em, or somebody's sleeping, and she'll do that.

- That helps out a lot.

I'm telling you it does.

It helps out people that are diabetics, and people that just don't have food, and a lot of people take them and put them in their bags, because after a certain hour around here, you can't get nothing to eat if you're homeless.

If you don't have any money, you're just out of luck.

And them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a lifesaver.

- I'm so thankful for the people that make 'em, because I eat a lot of 'em, and they are my foundation for me to go about my day, you know, and not having to worry about being hungry.

And without them, I would be really miserable.

- Pretty much it's the only thing to go through that sustains, because they might not have any other food choices, you know what I mean?

I come here, like, three days out the week and get one or two of them.

- [Julie] PBJ Springfield gets support from other organizations to help supply, prepare, and deliver to people on the streets.

Today, they're working at the Washington Street Mission.

- We serve 150 to 200 people a day that walk through our doors, and the first thing that we try to provide for them is to provide for their basic needs.

- Losing my sister, and then losing my mother at the same year, same exact year, six months apart, and it just struggled me even more.

I've come a long ways, 'cause I know I can come here.

I can have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I'll be good.

- It kind of made me really sad and I was out here finding myself in these situations so I needed help.

- [Julie] Kathy knows exactly how hard it is to turn life around.

Her mission to help comes after losing her brother Jim when he hit hard times.

- And a real sad story about that just happened this winter.

A man, he couldn't walk anymore, he couldn't move, and I said, "Would you like a PBJ?"

He said, "I sure would."

He could barely talk.

So that told me he was in stage.

And, um, it kind of gets to me, 'cause I just went through it with my brother, who died from alcoholism.

I said, "Would you like to take more?"

And he said, "I sure would."

So I gave him four or five PBJs, put 'em up in his little step at the church, and the next week, he died.

So that was pretty emotional.

- [Julie] But not every story ends on the streets, simply because Kathy has taken that extra step for people who can't move forward on their own, like Steve, who's now in an apartment, and Lori, who is ready to work.

- I got myself off the drugs.

I got myself where I can start focusing, looking for jobs, and being able to do things that I, you know, without this place, I'd probably lost.

(rap music playing) - [Julie] Nick is also getting back to work as a professional recording artist.

This was his first album, and he has his sights set on doing more.

- And then I finally got myself back on track, and I'm no longer homeless, but I still consider myself open to these things, because I've been a musician since the 90s, you know what I mean?

My music's been monetized.

It's been sold in stores ever since then.

There's angels out here, people that look out for a lot of people, you know, good-hearted people.

That's all I can say, you know, 'cause not everyone cares.

- I do firmly believe that we are here on this earth to serve others, not just accumulate, and work towards our own self, but to help other human beings, because I can tell you, anybody on the streets could be your mother, your brother, your dad, your sister, it could be even your child.

- Kathy can use more help with volunteers and donations.

You can contact her through the PBJ Springfield Facebook page anytime.

For "In Focus", I'm Julie Staley.

- Thanks, Julie.

"In Focus" continues now with another organization making a difference.

CAIRS, Carbondale Area Interfaith Refugee Support.

From the organization, I am very pleased to welcome now chair, Jim Dooley and Cindy Buys with the organization.

Thank you both for being with us.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thanks for having us.

- It's good to have you here.

Jim, start off with tell me how CAIRS helps people who are resettling in their region.

- Well, we started out with the intent of being able to help people come here, and in that need, we had people who have to learn English.

They have to get education, they have to get healthcare, they have to get food, they have to get jobs, they have to get housing.

So our groups, subgroups of CAIRS, have helped with all those things.

- The needs are great, and of course, there are so many people who are seeking a better life.

Tell me how those people are referred to your organization.

- Well, when we first started, we weren't allowed to bring families here.

So we donated goods to St. Louis to a group called International Institute.

And then, for about a four year period, there weren't many refugees coming to the country at all, and when they were allowed to come from Afghanistan particularly, when the war ended, we had no infrastructure left for these people.

So the State Department created something called Sponsor Circles.

And three churches here in town and one nondenominational group got together and raised money to bring four different families here.

So we brought families from Afghanistan right to Carbondale.

And it's been amazing.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Cindy, I should say, you are an immigration attorney.

That is your connection to this group, as well as I know your passion for this issue.

I wanna talk about some of the legal issues.

Some of the people who need help are classified as refugees on the CAIRS website.

That would include folks from Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, which Jim mentioned.

Others, like those from Venezuela, are asylum seekers, which we hear about a lot on the news.

We hear a lot about it in Illinois because of many asylum seekers who were brought to the Chicago area in particular, many by the state of Texas.

Explain the difference between refugees and asylum seekers, and how the organization can help those folks.

- Sure.

So actually, both refugees and asylum seekers have to meet the same legal definition.

Both of them have to show that they have a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country because of one of five grounds listed in the statute.

It has to be their race, their religion, their nationality, their membership in a particular social group, or their political opinion.

The difference, really, is that if they come as a refugee, they've already been designated, usually by the United Nations Refugee Organization, and the US government prior to arriving on US soil.

If they come here before being designated as a refugee, and they say once they arrive, "I'm afraid to go home because I would be persecuted "on one of those grounds," then they are an asylum seeker.

We have generally, well, we have helped both groups, really.

We've helped people who have not yet received asylum or refugee status, as well as working with folks who are already in that refugee category, and in both cases, we've tried to make sure that they have the resources that Jim referred to to be able to be successful once they're here.

- Yeah, and of course, legal resource is part of this because for both groups there are court hearings, there's a process to go through, but we often hear for asylum in particular, there's an incredible backlog by the federal government, a very difficult process, and many, if not better to say most cases, are rejected when folks ask for asylum.

As I mentioned, tens of thousands of people seeking asylum have come to Illinois in the past few years, many brought by Texas.

Explain the specific legal challenge for them, and just how bad this backlog is.

- Yeah.

So in our asylum law, the ideal, the way the law is written, is that an asylum case is supposed to be resolved within six months.

Right now, there's a backlog of over three million cases in the immigration courts, and it's taking on average five to six years to resolve an asylum case.

So people's status is very uncertain.

One thing that happened with the Afghans, those that we brought here right after the US withdrew, most of them had connections to the US military.

Someone in the family had been a translator or interpreter, or worked in some other capacity with the military.

They were given a temporary status called parole, which is an urgent humanitarian status for two years, and then once they got here, we filed their asylum claims for them.

That's a little bit different than the folks that are coming to Chicago, for the most part, those folks are crossing our southern border.

Many of them are from Central and South America, although not exclusively.

And they, when they got to the border, requested asylum.

For the most part, they've been allowed to enter and to wait until their asylum hearing can take place.

If they're from certain countries like Venezuela, they've been given some special ability to work, to be able to support themselves temporarily while they're here, so many of them have the ability to work.

But they still have to know the language.

They still have to have the right job skills, they still have to find housing, you know, all those kinds of things.

So it's a little bit different, depending on what country you're coming from.

We did have some special parole programs for countries that had unique situations like Afghanistan.

Others are just in the general pipeline and will likely be years before it's resolved.

- Okay.

Very interesting.

Important to understand.

Jim, someone's watching this program, maybe they wanna help in some way, volunteer, funding.

What's the biggest need right now?

- The biggest need is always housing.

- Housing.

- We have jobs in southern Illinois.

We have this amazing group here called CESL.

It gives us free scholarships to learn English.

- Yeah, Center for English as a Second Language, right?

- Yes.

- Right here at SIU, Carbondale.

- And then Logan has free English assistance, and we have amazing grade school and high school assistance with learning the language.

We've been very fortunate to have healthcare taken care of, at cost, we have healthcare taken care of.

We have dental taken care of.

Our people have got jobs.

Some of our people have two jobs.

Cindy arranged for some of her friends to represent them.

They've all had their hearings.

They're all cleared to stay.

We've been so fortunate.

- Yeah, it's just- - But housing is the key.

- Housing is the key.

And of course, we're hearing that in Chicago, as well.

There are nonprofits that are working on the housing issue up there.

I see on your website that sponsors have helped resettle families from Afghanistan.

Tell me about that in particular.

- Well, we have four families so far.

A fifth one is coming.

There's seven more people coming, as soon as we can get them out of Pakistan.

They're being vetted right now, as a matter of fact.

Our four families, one of those four families this year, a special immigration visa?

- Correct.

- Okay.

(Cindy laughs) It's different for humanitarian parole.

- [Fred] Me too.

- I want to get the terms correct.

And those people, the wife is gonna be enrolled here at SIU this fall.

- Okay.

- And she has a job as a bookkeeper.

The husband has a job at the hospital, and they both work part time as a second job.

- [Fred] That's wonderful.

- One of our other families got here and had a baby.

So we have a two-year-old American citizen.

Might be the president someday.

You don't know.

- Yeah, yeah.

- He has a job.

He has just been accepted into the union at his job.

And she is now a nurse aid, nurse practitioner.

Just got out of her class, and her sister-in-law works at Walmart.

Walmart's been amazing for help with jobs.

- That's fantastic.

It's inspirational, and it's great to hear these stories.

This is what the American dream is all about.

This is what immigration is about, but it's not what we hear often.

- [Jim] Well, what we didn't hear- - In terms of the news.

- What we didn't hear when we got into this is all these people left family.

- [Fred] Yeah.

- I can't imagine what they go through.

- Yeah, that's right.

Cindy, US immigration law makes refugees eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence status after they have been physically present in the United States for at least one year.

Tell me about the challenges for folks in that process, because I've actually had in past places where I've lived, folks who tried to do that, and it is a long, I know, and sometimes challenging process, again.

- Yeah.

So you are absolutely correct, that once they have achieved the status of being declared an asylum, being granted asylum, is maybe a better way to say it, or be a refugee, then they wait one year, and they are eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence, or LPR status, which colloquially we talk about as being your green card.

And that's when they can apply, but as you said, it can take quite a while for that to be processed.

It's a long application.

There's further vetting, security vetting, and that sort of thing that has to happen at that point.

Once they are granted LPR status, then they wait five years before they can become a US citizen, or apply to become a US citizen.

And there's another round of paperwork.

I think one of the biggest difficulties with that is, again, there is a lot of paperwork involved.

They still may be acquiring English language, but may not be fluent in terms of filling out the forms, getting legal assistance for them in doing that is going to be important, and it's also very expensive.

The immigration service has a mandate from the government that it be self-supporting, and so it charges fees for all of its paperwork and forms.

And it costs several hundred if not several thousand dollars to go through that process, and so finding the money for all of these folks to be able to complete that process is going to be a future challenge.

- Yeah.

Challenge for sure, but especially on those very special days, those naturalization ceremonies, what an experience that is.

I know you must have been through many of them.

- Yes.

- Or I have seen them myself, and led a project in my previous job in New Mexico.

One of the best things I've ever done in media, to see people from all over the world coming to the United States, often going through ten years, and then becoming, taking the oath, becoming a citizen.

It is incredible.

- It is a really moving experience.

And we've been very lucky that Judge Gilbert of the Southern District of Illinois has often held one of those naturalization ceremonies right here at SIU at the Simmons Law School each spring, so people can come, and they can experience that, and watch people become US citizens, and it's really a moving ceremony.

- [Fred] Yeah.

- [Jim] And my son-in-law.

- Yeah.

So you have a personal connection?

Yeah.

So you were there for his?

- I was not.

- You were not?

- I got to see it live on streaming.

- [Fred] On streaming?

- He was naturalized in Kansas City.

- In Kansas City.

Amazing.

I can tell, Jim, just talking to you, how personal this is to you, beyond the family connection that you just told us, and allowed the audience to learn.

But you're committed to this issue through the work that you do with this organization.

When folks are watching this show, as we run out of time here, what do you want them to know?

What do you want them to remember about why this mission is so important?

- Well, I think all the world's great religions have two things in common.

Love God, love your neighbor.

They're our neighbor.

- Yeah.

- It's important.

- Yeah.

And they make our country stronger.

This is an important thing to understand.

This is part of our past, our present, and our future.

- We're all refugees.

- We are all, for the most part, right?

Immigrants.

Cindy, same question for you.

The importance of helping people build a new life in the United States.

- Yeah, and it's faith-based for me as well.

You know, it's that Biblical command that you welcome the stranger.

And you do what you can for the least of these, and if you are not a US citizen, you have access to even less in this world in terms of resources.

And so helping refugees, people whose lives are literally in danger if they were to return home.

I mean, every time I win a case, that's what I feel like.

I feel like I have potentially saved someone's life, and so that's been part of my passion.

And we know that it's a win-win situation.

We know that these refugees are enriching our community.

They're starting businesses, they're filling needed jobs, they're enriching us culturally with their food, and their music, and their lives.

And so we benefit just as they benefit from being here.

- That's right.

You teach the law at Southern Illinois University.

But as you mentioned, you also handle immigration cases, and that's one way that you donate your time, so-called pro bono cases.

That must be incredibly rewarding for you, that through your profession, you've been able to help in that way.

- Yeah, and it's part of what we are taught as attorneys, that all of us should be giving back through pro bono.

So part of my goal as a teacher is to inspire my students, so I get many of them involved in my pro bono cases.

And as Jim said, when we needed attorneys for our families that we brought here from Afghanistan, I reached out to my network of alum and said, "Okay, I need some of you to step up "and take some pro bono cases with me."

And they instantly said yes.

- [Jim] She arm twisted.

(all laugh) - Not very hard.

So yeah, I think that the lesson is well learned here in Southern Illinois.

- Jim, a few minutes left.

Before we started this recording today, I told you that I have been incredibly fortunate to cover this issue in a variety of ways through almost three decades in journalism, and I have some of my best memories in meeting people who've come to the United States to make a better life, in being able to help, in that way, to share the stories.

As you reflect on this, and your dedication to this through your nonprofit work, what has this personally meant to you?

Not only through how it has affected your life, but in this being a service of love?

- Well, I also volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

Okay, so you do these things thinking you're giving something.

You know what, you always get more.

You always benefit more than you give.

It's just wonderful.

- Yeah.

It certainly is.

Cindy, as we quickly run out of time here, there are, along with our hope, along with the great stories that you both shared, there is concern right now because of the, not just national, but really international, challenges that have faced people all over the world who are trying to build a new life, who've tried to escape persecution and despair in the country where they may have grown up.

This must be in the back of your mind all of the time because you're living this through what you're teaching, through your volunteer work, and in the courtroom.

- Yeah, it's a chaotic world.

And the hotspots change, right?

So right now we're talking a lot about Afghanistan.

You have a Ukraine pin on.

I was teaching in Ukraine, beginning in March of 2022, right after the major invasion by Russia, and personally witnessed the influx of refugees coming across the border into Poland from Ukraine.

And have been working with Polish colleagues and colleagues from Ukraine.

There are just so many places.

I mean, there are people in Myanmar, and many countries, and Africa, and South America, and so there's just a lot of need.

We have a lot of political debates going on in our country, and I do understand the concerns that when you have too many people at the same time, that sometimes it overwhelms the resources, and your ability to properly care for all of them.

But I do believe there's a balance out there that we could find, where we can be welcoming of people who need us, and work also with their home countries to provide more stability, more safety at home.

- And recognize, as you both have said, that we all benefit from this.

Thank you both for being with us.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- My guests were Jim Dooley and Cindy Buys from CAIRS, Carbondale Area Interfaith Refugee Support.

That is "In Focus", for everyone at WSIU, I'm Fred Martino.

Thank you for being with us.

Have a good week.

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