In July of 2018, a small group of like-minded educators got together to make a change in the community, and the world, by helping asylum seekers and refugees at the Brownsville international bridges, founding what is now internationally known as Team Brownsville.
This month, the City of Brownsville recognized Team Brownsville with a proclamation that states how their humanitarian movement has made Brownsville be known as a beautiful and accepting community.
“Since its inception, the membership and mission expanded with the help of volunteers and donors from around the globe inspired by Team Brownsville, providing humanitarian assistance and spreading love and hope for a better world,” the proclamation reads.
Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said Team Brownsville represents the best of human compassion and that they have brought positive recognition to our great city for being kind and helping those in need.
“They took the initiative to assist a helpless and hungry community on their own, with their own money, and invested a lot of time and effort into the cause,” Mendez said.
Sergio Cordova, Team Brownsville co-founder, said all the members of Team Brownsville are very humbled and very honored. Cordova, Andrea Rudnik, Michael Benavides and David and Melba Lucio are the five co-founders of Team Brownsville who two and a half years ago decided to take make a change for asylum seekers and have since then provided migrants with tents, food, medical equipment, clothing, medicines, water, makeshift schools and more.
“All of us are very humbled and very honored,” he said. “We are from Brownsville, it’s a city that we love so much and it means a lot to us to be recognized by the mayor and the commissioners, because they see the important work that Team Brownsville has done.”
Cordova said Team Brownsville started shortly after the separation of children at the border became known. He said the team first started to volunteer with the Angry Tias and Abuelas because they were already doing similar work at the McAllen bus station, but eventually, started their own local non-profit.
“When we saw those images of the children getting ripped out of the hands of their parents and being put in cages. I remember there was a march in Brownsville where a lot of people came, I think it was sponsored by ACLU, and shortly thereafter we were like ‘OK, what we can do? What we can do as the community? As people? How can we help’ and that’s how it all started,” he said.
“Never in my wildest dreams I would have imagined that Team Brownsville would inspire people all over the country, and all over the world. We have been very fortunate that the media has covered our story.”
To donate, visit teambrownsville.org.
