AURORA, Colo. — Over the past year, the immigrant crisis has stretched resources thin across Colorado.
The nonprofit, Village Exchange Center (VEC) in Aurora has stepped up to help support the influx of families since the very beginning.
The VEC, is a community center dedicated to assisting diverse populations. Friday, they hosted a 'Health and Resource Fair.'
The event was specifically to help hundreds of newcomers in the Aurora and Denver metro areas.
At the fair, various organizations, like RTD, MIEL Organization, Arc Thrift Stores and others offered in-person advice and services in health, financial management, housing, education, and digital literacy.
Several health providers were also on-site to help provide services such as vaccinations and health screenings.
Event organizers said it was all designed to connect newcomers with essential local resources.
The health and resource fair also served as a place to help families who have recently benefited from the 'State Funded Migrant Integration Housing Assistance Policy for Families.'
Since the program launched in March, VEC said its team has housed 73 immigrant families.
Each qualifying family has received up to $4,500 to help secure stable housing, thanks to grants from the state.
"What we are doing here today is just because we care, we're a community center," said Amanda Blaurock, Co-Founder of VEC, "We want people to know that they can continue to come and be a part of our community, that we support them."
Denver7 spoke with Winbir and Juan Carlos Perez, who immigrated from Venezuela.
They said they were just approved for the housing help through VEC. The couple told us, they arrived to Denver in December and had been staying in a shelter when they first arrived.
After getting out of the shelter, they said they've been staying with a community member who offered to let them stay at their home until they found their own place to live.
“We are thankful for the support we’ve received," Winbir said, in Spanish.
The VEC said it has enough funding to help provide housing help for around 200 families.
The center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located at 1609 Havana Street in Aurora. They said any newcomers are welcome to stop by in-person to get connected to resources.
