Hello Vuelo
Hello Vuelo
We believe everyone has the right to spend time with their loved ones.
At least once or twice a year, most of us are able to spend time with our loved ones - reconnect, share, laugh with grandparents, siblings, children, aunts & uncles, cousins, parents, and good friends. During holidays, special occasions or in times of sickness and need, we have the resources to visit the people who are most important to us.
Unfortunately, for many low income families often living thousands of miles apart, its not so easy to see each other.
When low income families are struggling to pay the rent and buy food, spending money on a plane ticket is simply an impossibility. Countless families spend too many years apart - unable to travel due to finances, which is often made more difficult by restrictive immigration policies.
Hello Vuelo uses crowdfunding to purchase flights to reunite low income families. We connect families & friends who want to give with families & friends who are in need of support.
"Vuelo" means flight in Spanish and so our project - Hello Vuelo - means a flight to say hello to loved ones and reunite. All donations are tax-deductible.
“Seeing our 90 year old maternal grandmother, Maria, was the highlight of our trip. We were always with her since both of our parents worked - she is our second mother. We were finally able to hug her tell her thank you for everything she has done for us. ”
Current Travelers
Current Travelers
Orlando Fernandez Taveras is a New Yorker, father, and husband who came to the United States as a green card holder when he was just 16 months old and grew up in Long Island. As a youth, Orlando struggled with addiction which led to an arrest and conviction that changed his life forever. He entered a treatment program and began a new chapter in his life - proposing to his partner, who is a U.S. citizen and welcoming his child in 2008 who is now 14 years old. For years, Orlando worked hard to maintain his sobriety, gain steady employment and find stability in his life with his wife and child. However, while planning for his wedding in 2009, ICE arrested him and he was ultimately deported in 2014 to the Dominican Republic. His wife and child relocated with him, committed for the last eight years to fighting to return home as a family. They remain there now. It was a very difficult decision to all go to the DR together and ultimately decided the family unity was the most important thing - they all moved together, including their cat and three dogs
How It Works
How It Works
Established community & legal aid organizations such as African Services Committee and Make the Road New York nominate low wage workers or their family members - we call them "Travelers" - for free trips through Hello Vuelo.
We work with community organizations so they can vet individual’s stories and ensure that they are in need of support. Travelers are from low income families and generally fall into the following categories:
have not seen loved one for over 2 years due to low income
there is a sudden health issue in the family and a low income family member cannot afford a trip to visit
there is a milestone event coming up (birth of a child, wedding, funeral) and the low income family member cannot afford to attend
These nominated low wage workers or their family members go up on our website with their narrative and pictures so people can read their stories, encouraging them to make donations to reunite low-income families.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
If you would like to help us with fundraising, please contact us at hellovuelo@gmail.com
Hello Vuelo is A VOLUNTEER RUN NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
About Us
About Us
Hello Vuelo is a volunteer run 501(c)(3) - donations go directly towards trips to reunite low income families. We are a small group of people who believe low wages should not keep families apart and wanted to do something about it.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Hello Vuelo collaborates with amazing partner groups organizing low income communities for fair economic and immigration policies to select Travelers whose trips we fund. These are a few of the incredible organizations we are working with:
National Bail Fund Network
The National Bail Fund Network is a national project that works with organizers, advocates, and legal providers across the country that are using, or contemplating using, community bail funds as part of efforts to radically change local bail systems and reduce incarceration. The Network was established in September 2016 and is made up of over 50 community bail funds that use the regular payment of bail as well as strategic bail out actions in campaigns to end money bail and pretrial detention in both the criminal legal and immigration detention systems.
Make the Road New York
Make the Road New York builds the power of Latino and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice through organizing, policy innovation, transformative education, and survival services. Make the Road New York promotes equal rights and economic and political opportunity for immigrant New Yorkers through Community and Electoral Organizing, Leadership Development, Adult Education, Workforce, Youth Development, Legal and Support Services, and Strategic Policy Advocacy.
Chinese Progressive Association - San Francisco
Founded in 1972, the Chinese Progressive Association educates, organizes and empowers the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco to build collective power with other oppressed communities to demand better living and working conditions and justice for all people. CPA's core strategies are community education and organizing, leadership development and alliance and movement building. CPA engages in community education and organizing around health and environmental justice,workers' rights, housing, immigrant rights, and other issues of concern to the organization's members and constituents.
Founded in 1981 by Ethiopian refugees to give a helping hand to other newcomers, today African Services is a multiservice agency based in Harlem and dedicated to assisting immigrants, refugees and asylees from across the African Diaspora.
ASC's programs address the needs of newcomers affected by war, persecution, poverty, and global health inequalities. ASC provides health, housing, legal, educational, and social services to 12,500 people each year. Staff representing more than 20 countries and speaking over 25 languages provide culturally and linguistically relevant support to this diverse and growing community.
Expanding HIV prevention and access to AIDS treatment and care is central to ASC's mission. African Services has taken this work from Harlem to the front lines of the global pandemic and now operates five HIV clinics in Ethiopia.
Want to become a partner organization?
Are you an organization that works with low wage workers and/or low income families? Do you have members who are unable to see their loved ones due to finances? Please contact us at hellovuelo@gmail.com