When sous chef Omar Alvarez was arrested by federal immigration agents in early August on his way to work at Perla Oyster Bar in Maplewood, it hit the community, the restaurant and owner/chef Matthew Chappina hard.
Chappina immediately sprang into action — creating a GoFundMe and reaching out to everyone or anyone who could help.
Ultimately he found out about SOMA Community Cares, founded by local residents Matt Bloom and Cynthia Galeota earlier this year to provide support to immigrants in detention. The nascent nonprofit has become the go-to organization for providing everything from commissary accounts to phone cards to bond funding to legal aid. Informally, SOMA Community Cares has also become the communications connection between residents, immigrants and their families, elected officials, attorneys, the media and local activists.
“I got very inspired by the work he is doing for this community, for everyone that is affected by this,” said Chappina of Bloom. “Whether you are on the right or the left, everyone is affected by what is happening right now in a negative way in our country. ”
To offer support, Chappina hosted a fundraiser for SOMA Community Cares at Perla on October 7, with help from Corner Slice, Bonhomie Wine Imports of South Orange, Sweetstreet Candy Co. and Lum’s Cellars.
The money raised is very much appreciated — and needed.
“I am new to this,” said Bloom, who said he never done volunteer work until this last year. “I got very deep into this just seeing people that we know, people that work on our homes, people that clean our homes, people that just last week were working on the town sidewalk, just getting ripped up in front of us for no reason. These are people that have families. These are people that have children that now every night are not going to see their dad because they are locked up. And they shouldn’t be.”
Bloom continued, “A year ago I showed up at Delaney Hall with a pack of diapers and now I am running a $500,000 nonprofit.”
“What’s amazing is the amount of money that is needed to help these people,” said Bloom, explaining that the organization had spent $60k in the last three days alone, including $50K for the four people taken on October 1 in Maplewood (three men working on Springfield Avenue) and South Orange (a Paterson resident arrested in Tuxedo Park).
Galeota came with more receipts.
“Our legal referral form went live in July and since that time we’ve had 120 referral requests submitted,” reported Galeota. “We funded 55 cases with the bulk of our money going towards habeas petitions, bond hearings, and BIA (Board of Immigration Appeals). Additionally, we paid for legal consultations, application fees for work permits, asylum hearings, and supporting immigration removal defense for people who are not in detention.”
Galeota said that rental assistance was very much needed and encouraged someone to start a nonprofit for that need — one of the few not covered by SOMA Community Cares.
“I just want to let everybody know that referrals are mainly from wives, mothers, sisters and girlfriends for their loved ones who are mostly men and they are the primary wage earners,” Galeota continued. “Many families have children and babies. In the comment section on our referral form, many people write about the mental and financial stress that they are suffering. I spoke with a young woman the other day who said to me, “I just want my father back beside me.’ That is such a simple statement, but that really should be our goalpost because families have every right to stay together and families want to do everything they can to stay together.”
“It’s so important to expand our sense of community responsibility and stand up for those who are under siege,” said Galeota.
She concluded, “Matt and I know that we are so lucky to live in towns where community engagement is valued and supported and everyone here tonight exemplifies the spirit of ‘what more can I do for one another’. We thank you for your tremendous generosity in the past and for your generosity here tonight and for showing care for the community writ large. So thank you all very much.”
Defiance, heartbreak and hope
Chappina shared that he is inspired to support the work of SOMA Community Cares despite and because of Omar’s fate.
“On his way to work one day he was picked up by ICE,” said Chappina. “He was seeking asylum. He was going through all the proper legal pathways toward citizenship. It didn’t seem to matter. We tried out best to get him out. He’s still locked up. He’s actually in Texas now. He’s on his way to Peru.”
Chappina shared that although he prefers to keep the focus on Omar and his plight, adjusting to his absence has been a challenge.
“I’ve never experienced this before where I’m at work and I’m expecting my guy to be here because he’s such a great employee, he’s a great person, he shows up early, he’s here all the time, he’s my sous chef — suddenly ripped out from his life, his job, his people here who love him, he has a family here.”
“So it feels like a death,” said Chappina. “He was suddenly not here. … I saw him the night before. It was a Thursday. I left a little early. He broke down. Said ‘see you tomorrow.’ And then I left. Then I’m here the next day where he’s supposed to be here at 11 o’clock and he wasn’t here.”
“Obviously his life, his situation is the most important one, but it affects so many people,” said Chappina. “The ripple effect is tremendous.”
Despite the heartbreak of not being able to get Omar back, Chappina is comforted by the outpouring of support from Perla’s customers and the community.
“It’s a gratifying thing to have, to be able to have a place like that where people feel connected.”
