Sisters help migrants build new lives through Omaha-based support network

Asylum seekers from as far away as Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia and Sierra Leone are building new lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with the help of sisters representing three different religious communities and a network that stretches to Juárez, Mexico.

Founded in November 2022, Omaha Welcomes the Stranger Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded by Tom and Margaret Hoarty; Mercy Sr. Kathleen Erickson; Servants of Mary Sr. Val Lewandoski; and Notre Dame Sr. Mary Kay Meagher. The five form the Board of Directors for Omaha Welcomes the Stranger, along with Juan Carlos Garcia, director of Hispanic ministry for the Columban Fathers, and Mercy Sr. Maryanne Stevens.

The Hoartys were inspired to start Omaha Welcomes the Stranger after volunteering at Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 and 2021, an opportunity Margaret Hoarty learned about from a Notre Dame sister's account of her volunteer experience there. In 2022, Ruben Garcia, Annunciation House's founder and executive director, asked Erickson and the Hoartys to welcome a bus of migrants and asylum seekers to Omaha because shelters in El Paso and other border cities were overwhelmed.