Citizenship Day Helps Over 100 Immigrants

OneAmerica, the Washington State Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Washington New Americans program (WNA) held its last Citizenship Day of the 2010-2011 cycle on Saturday, April 16, in Bellingham, Centralia, and Wenatchee. 123 volunteers, including 26 attorneys, participated to provide free assistance with the citizenship application to 148 immigrants.

Fairhaven College at Western Washington University hosted the Bellingham Citizenship Day for the first time. A number of students from the school’s Law, Diversity, and Justice program received college credit for providing assistance in planning and volunteering at the event. 44 immigrants were helped at the site.

In Centralia, Citizenship Day was hosted by Centralia College. Local insurance agency, Corwin Rey, generously donated $300 for expenses incurred by the event. The site also received a food donation from Casa Ramos. 33 volunteers came to Centralia from all over, including Olympia, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. Volunteers provided services to 58 clients.

Wenatchee hosted its sixth Citizenship Day since AILA started the event in Washington State in 2005. The Chelan County PUD Auditorium donated space for the event and several local businesses donated food for volunteers, including Casa Tapatia, Columbia Fruit Packers, and Ruben’s Panaderia. The site was staffed by 47 volunteers, many of whom drove out from Seattle. The Wenatchee team was able to assist 46 immigrants.

Our April Citizenship Day was part of AILA’s National Citizenship Day and Ya es Hora’s month of citizenship. If you missed Citizenship Day, call us on our toll-free hotline 1-877-926-3924 for information on where you can get assistance with your citizenship application.

Thank you to all of the organizations and businesses who helped make Citizenship Day a success!

• Asian Counseling & Referral Service
• Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
• Centralia College
• Chelan County PUD Auditorium
• Fairhaven College, Western Washington University
• Tacoma Community House
• Avenue Bread and Café
• Casa Ramos
• Casa Tapatia
• Columbia Fruit Packers
• Corwin Rey Insurance
• Costco, Bellingham
• Community Food Co-Op
• Great Harvest Bread Co.
• Grocery Outlet
• Haggen Food & Pharmacy: Fairhaven Market & Sehome Village
• La Gloria Market
• Little Caesar’s Pizza
• The Market at Fairhaven
• Pizza Pipeline
• Ruben’s Panaderia
• Rudy’s Pizzeria
• Seattle’s Best Coffee, 2^nd Ave & Cherry
• Starbucks, Bellingham
• Trader Joe’s, Bellingham