CASA MARIANELLA - International Shelter for Support and Solidarity

In addition to shelter, Casa offers access to legal and medical resources, food, clothing, English classes, and other resources. Casa Marianella started in 1986 as one home for men, women and children, but as Casa has grown, a nearby branch site was created in 2003 called Posada Esperanza for women with children (many of whom are escaping domestic or cultural violence). Casa Marianella currently consists of three neighboring houses for men and women without children, while Casa’s Posada Esperanza branch has expanded to four neighboring houses.

The shelters are home-like facilities designed to meet emergency or transitional needs so vulnerable and injured people can resolve their immediate crisis, get stabilized and once again become independent, which then opens up space for new residents. Since Casa began operations in 1986, their population has evolved from survivors of the Salvadoran war to asylum seeking refugees and other immigrants from over 40 countries.

In 2018, the residents of Casa arrived from a total of 36 different nations including: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine and Venezuela. The greatest numbers of residents came from Eritrea with 94 people arriving to Casa.

Casa Marianella is the only homeless shelter in Austin, Texas dedicated solely to immigrants. 65% of the shelter residents, including children, are asylum seekers, many arriving from immigration detention centers.

Across all programs in 2018, Casa Marianella hosted a total of 415 residents. Considering the total of 330 exits from Casa, 306 were successfully transitioned into permanent residents, yielding a success rate of 93%!

The Inti Raymi Fund was very impressed with the operations at Casa, especially the staff which emotionally give so much of themselves to this worthy immigration cause. We strongly encourage you to visit their website below to learn more about Casa and how you may get involved volunteering your services or to make a meaningful contribution towards this important cause. Further, it would be very beneficial if you could reach out to them to arrange a personal visit to see what a warm community Casa provides.