Restore individual Safety & Equality
Don't Just Stand is dedicated to assisting individuals and families affected by immigration injustice... helping them find support, resources, and advocacy when they need it most.
4.6m
Children in Households At-Risk
50k
Arrests & Kidnappings in a Month
72%
Arrested Have No Criminal Record
88%
Have No Lawyer,
No Money,
No Help
Don't Just Stand... RiSE!
We know there are many people who want to help... they just don’t know where to start, who to turn to, or how to make a real difference. Don't Just Stand was created for you. We connect caring people with trusted organizations doing meaningful work, making it easier to turn compassion into action.
"I was able to talk to my dad today!"
JULIAN | 8 YEARS OLD
Hope and healing can come from something as simple as helping an incarcerated father speak with his young children.
"You helped me save my business, my home... my family."
ANGELIQUE | 42 YEARS OLD
We're rising up to this overwhelming, heartbreaking need.
This is the kind of impact caring people like you are having.
Every day.
"We were afraid to leave our home... thank you for the groceries!"
ORTEGAS FAMILY
Why RiSE?
We stand in solidarity. We stand with compassion. We stand for equality and human rights. But we've seen firsthand that standing often times isn't enough... we need to RiSE.
And the smallest, simplest acts of kindness and giving are all it takes.
Solidarity not Charity
His Work Boots
I went to help a family whose father had been taken. His wife met me at the door. We talked about rent, groceries, the kids and what she was supposed to do next. Then I noticed a pair of work boots by the door. Covered in dried mud.
She saw me looking at them. “He always takes those off there,” she said. Then she went quiet. “He'll need them when he comes home.”
I don't know why, but those boots destroyed me. This was a man who went to work. Came home. Took off his dirty boots. Kissed his kids. Ate dinner with his family. And then one day he didn't come home.
His wife hadn't moved the boots. Maybe moving them would mean admitting something she wasn't ready to admit. I helped with some bills. Brought groceries. Made a few calls. Then I walked past those boots and left. They were still waiting for him. Just like his family.
GLORIA | INGLEWOOD
She Set Four Plates
I brought dinner to a mother and her two children after their father had been detained. Nothing special, just enough food so she wouldn't have to worry about dinner that night. She thanked me probably ten times... then she started setting the table.
One plate. Two. Three. Four.
She stared at the fourth plate for a few seconds, then she quietly picked it back up and put it in the cabinet. Her daughter saw her do it. Nobody said anything.
That's the part I can't forget. Not the tears. Not the fear. Not even the story of how their father was taken... that plate. Because yesterday there were four people having dinner in that house, now there were three.
I went there thinking I was bringing them a meal. I left realizing there are some empty places at a table that no amount of food can fill.
JAMIE | SANTA ANA
Dad's Backpack
I was helping a woman find emergency assistance after her husband had been taken when her little boy came into the room carrying a backpack. He asked his mom if we were going to see Daddy. She told him, “Not today.”
He didn't cry. He just put the backpack down by the front door. I asked her what was inside. She said he'd packed it himself the night before: A sweatshirt. A bag of Goldfish. A drawing he'd made. And one of his dad's T-shirts. He thought if somebody came to take him to his father, he needed to be ready. He was six.
We finished the paperwork. Made some calls. Found help with groceries and part of their rent. Things that mattered.
But when I left, that little backpack was still sitting beside the door, ready to go. And that's when I cried. Not in front of them... I made it to my car first.
RICHIE | LOS ANGELES
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