🐄 Hagamos Vaca

When Fear Comes Home: Why Local Care Matters After Minneapolis — Hagamos Vaca What happens after the rallies matters. A reflection on fear, community, and why local support is urgent right now.

After Minneapolis, fear spread fast — and it didn’t stop at the headlines.

Here’s why local care, trust, & community-rooted support matter so much right now, and how we’re showing up for families in Virginia.

👉 www.hagamosvaca.org/news/when-fear-comes-home-why-local-care-matters-after-minneapolis

8/ Thank you to everyone who has shown up, reached out, shared stories, and stood in community these past weeks. We keep showing up — and we invite you to continue with us. Because no family should face this alone — and it’s your support that makes sure they don’t have to. 🫶

Give | Support Local Families Now — Hagamos Vaca Donate to Hagamos Vaca, supporting immigrant families in Virginia with urgent needs. Your generosity makes a real impact. Give today and help make a difference.

7/ 🙏 If you’re asking “how can I help right now in my own community?” and you live in Virginia — one way is by directing your support to our donate page. Every dollar goes right back into the work of supporting families in need: www.hagamosvaca.org/give

Hagamos Vaca Hagamos Vaca is a grassroots nonprofit working in solidarity with immigrant families in New Kent, West Point, Hampton Roads, and surrounding areas. We show up when others don’t—filling fridges, replac...

6/ At Hagamos Vaca, we’ve been showing up for immigrant families with direct, practical help: keeping them housed, with food, with emergency phone & internet, attending court meetings, & making sure kids stay connected to school. You can learn about our work here: www.hagamosvaca.org#what-we-do

5/ When enforcement activity rises, fear spreads: parents afraid to drive their kids to school, rents go unpaid, medical appointments are missed, phones get shut off, and stability slips away — not because families have done anything wrong, but because fear makes everyday life impossible.

4/ But here in Virginia, the impact of increased immigration enforcement isn’t only something happening elsewhere on the news — it’s something we’ve felt in our schools, homes, and neighborhoods for more than a year.

3/ We honor Renee’s life, we stand with all who showed up, and we join calls for compassion and accountability in how our communities are policed. Period.

2/ Thousands of people showed up in cities from coast to coast — in solidarity, in grief, and in demand of dignity, accountability, and humane treatment for all families. In my own hometown, a huge thank you to @wjccindivisible.bsky.social for their event. bsky.app/profile/wjcc...

1/ This weekend, communities all across the country came together for #ICEOutForGood — a nationwide series of peaceful vigils, marches, and rallies responding to the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. And what happens next matters.

Santa Fe is doing a walking vigil around the Roundhouse, Saturday from 2-4. 🚫👑💙🇺🇸

www.mobilize.us/indivisible/...

Hagamos Vaca Hagamos Vaca is a grassroots nonprofit working in solidarity with immigrant families in New Kent, West Point, Hampton Roads, and surrounding areas. We show up when others don’t—filling fridges, replac...

If you want to understand why this work exists — and what community care looks like in practice — we shared more about our vision (and our 3-year plan!) on our website:
👉 hagamosvaca.org

And thank you for reading this far. 😘

When kids have what they need, the future takes care of itself.

When kids have what they need, the future takes care of itself.

That’s the work.
That’s the promise.

Poverty Rates in Our Focus Area West Point: 5.0% King William County: 5.9% - 7.3% King and Queen County: 18.5% New Kent County: 5.2% We serve families who fall through the cracks—because of where they live, what language they speak, or how much money they make. Our work is rooted in West Point, Virginia, a small town where Jonathan teaches and where many of our first families live. We serve English Language Learners, immigrant families, and working-class kids—often all in the same household. These students arrive at school hungry, without the glasses they need to read, or without safe places to call home. Their families navigate complex systems in a language and structure that wasn’t designed for them. We are now expanding into King William, King and Queen, and New Kent counties, reaching into the gaps between Richmond, Williamsburg, and Hampton Roads—areas that are too often overlooked by major service providers. While cities in Virginia offer resources, these rural corridors are resource deserts, lacking broadband, transportation, and healthcare access. Families here can go days—or weeks—without support simply because of where they live. We show up where the safety net doesn’t reach—because no family should be invisible just because of their zip code.

We serve families who fall through the cracks — because of where they live, the language they speak, or what systems weren’t built for them.

Rural — or ruralish — Virginia shouldn’t mean invisible.

Spotlight: NEXTversity - NEXTversity is Hagamos Vaca’s after-school enrichment program for middle and high school students—designed specifically for English Learners, immigrant youth, and working-class kids who too often get left out of traditional college and career prep. It’s not about drilling test scores or chasing prestige—it’s about showing students what’s possible, and helping them believe it’s within reach. We’re building a space where young people can ask big questions, try new things, and see themselves in futures they never thought belonged to them. Whether it’s the first time they’ve thought about preparing to apply for college or just the first time someone asked what they want to be when they grow up—NEXTversity is where it starts. NEXTversity evolves based on the needs and goals of our students. It’s flexible, responsive, and centered on what motivates them—not what boxes someone else says they should check. Here’s what students get: College & Career Exploration: Career panels, online learning, experiential opportunities, and workshops that introduce students to a wide range of post-high school pathways. Homework Help & Academic Support: Tutoring, mentorship, and time to catch up in a low-stress, welcoming environment. Confidence & Communication Building: Public speaking practice, storytelling workshops, and chances to share their voice. Cultural Pride & Leadership Development: Celebrating identity, honoring students’ home languages and cultures, and preparing them to lead with pride.

We believe in planting seeds. 🌱

Through NEXTversity, we help immigrant and working-class students imagine futures that feel possible — not out of reach.

When a family is in crisis, they don’t need a form—they need help. We meet urgent needs quickly, without bureaucracy, and with compassion. From rent and utility support to food and clothing, we provide the essentials that keep families housed, fed, and moving forward. We’re often the only people who pick up the phone when a parent calls in desperation—and we make sure our answer is yes. There's a graphic to the right of this text with Stability and survival, health and healing, rights and access, education and aspiration, and community + connection. That's what showing up looks like.

What we know is that when families are in crisis, they don’t need a form. They need help — fast, with dignity, and without judgment.

This is what “showing up” actually looks like.

Jonathan didn’t set out to start a nonprofit. He was just trying to help one of his students see the board. As a public school teacher in West Point, Virginia, Jonathan was used to stepping in where the system fell short. But the day a student told him they couldn’t see the whiteboard—and had no way to get an eye exam, let alone glasses—something shifted. He paid out of pocket, like he often did. Then another kid needed help. Then another. Then a whole family. A dental visit. A new pair of shoes. A hot meal. A few small gifts at Christmastime. A winter coat. Help navigating medical appointments and prescriptions without health insurance. Bicycles and helmets. Financial and educational support with an after-school program to help a student envision a path after high school. What started as one small act of care turned into a full-time effort to hold up families that no one else was holding. That’s how Hagamos Vaca (Spanish for “let’s pitch in”) was born. In English, the Pitch-In Project. Not from strategy or structure, but from love, urgency, and a deep belief that every family deserves to feel safe, supported, and seen.

One small act of care turned into another. Then another kid. Another family. Groceries. Glasses. Dental care. A bike.
That’s how Hagamos Vaca began — not from strategy, but from love and urgency.

A child wearing glasses with the text, "It all started with one teacher and a pair of glasses" with the Hagamos Vaca logo in the corner.

Since we're new here, we want to tell you a little more about who we are. So, a 🧵.

Hagamos Vaca started with one teacher and a pair of glasses. Really.

Hagamos Vaca Hagamos Vaca is a grassroots nonprofit working in solidarity with immigrant families in New Kent, West Point, Hampton Roads, and surrounding areas. We show up when others don’t—filling fridges, replac...

There are so many incredible organizations doing this work from coast to coast — we'd love for folks to drop some of their favorites from their community into the comments.

And if you live in Virginia, we'd be honored if you took a minute to learn about our work: hagamosvaca.org.

When systems harm instead of protect, it's critical that neighbors step in to support. To show these communities that they belong. That’s why community-rooted organizations matter.

If you’re able, today is a powerful day to support the orgs doing this work on the ground.

We take care of us.

Right now, more than ever, remember: we take care of us.

Our hearts are broken for Minneapolis today. It’s a stark reminder of what immigrant communities across the country are living with every single day: fear, uncertainty, and real danger. 🧵

Love this! Can't wait to read. 😍

Purple background graphic with the Hagamos Vaca logo. Large text reads, “It all started with one teacher and a pair of glasses.” In the lower left, a black-and-white photo shows a smiling child wearing glasses with eyes squeezed shut. The website “hagamosvaca.org” appears at the bottom.

Hagamos Vaca started with one teacher and a pair of glasses.

Helping kids see the board revealed much bigger needs — food, housing, healthcare, safety.

What began as one person helping became a community stepping up together.

That’s how Hagamos Vaca was born: www.hagamosvaca.org/about

Purple background graphic with the Hagamos Vaca logo. Large text reads “ha·ga·mos va·ca” with a phonetic pronunciation “[ah-GAH-mohs BAH-kah].” Below, text explains: “literally ‘let’s make a cow’; an informal expression used across Latin America meaning ‘let’s pool our money,’ typically to help someone in need or cover a shared expense. A collective act of solidarity; the coming together of a community to ensure no one is left behind.” The website “hagamosvaca.org” appears at the bottom.

Hagamos Vaca means “let’s pitch in.”

We’re a community-led nonprofit in rural(ish) VA, supporting immigrant families with food, housing, healthcare, and education — care that says: you matter here.

We take care of us. And we can't wait to tell you more about our work.

hagamosvaca.org