Tag Archives: migrants

Michel Sandoval has never celebrated Thanksgiving before, but Thursday evening she knows exactly what she’ll be giving thanks for — family, good health and all the people who helped her and her partner, Luis Alfonso, in their long journey from Venezuela.

“I’m grateful God has always been with us, hasn’t left us, and thanks to God we’ve always found good people on our trip here,” said Sandoval, 21. 

That list includes the family in Mexico that put her and Luis up for a month last spring and Ruth Lamour, an Austin resident who has been hosting Sandoval and other migrants in her house and will be hosting their first…

The size of a program for newly-arrived migrant families to temporarily stay with private residents is unclear a week after the Healey administration called for more people to open up their homes.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services said state officials have heard from Massachusetts residents “who have graciously offered to host families at their homes.”

“We are currently collecting their information and developing a process for implementation,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald on Wednesday.

But the spokesperson did not say how many residents have become hosts since Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Aug. 7. A Healey spokesperson also did not say last week whether any state employees or lawmakers have stepped…