With Denver city shelters full and the distinct possibility of a flood of new immigrants arriving in Colorado now that Title 42 is set to expire, Mayor Michael Hancock on Thursday pleaded for help from non-profits and faith-based organizations.

Some area churches already had his back.

The Denver Gazette spoke with two churches, which have been surprised to find that immigrants had somehow made a path to their doorsteps.

Denver’s First Menonite Church, at 430 West 9th, did not turn the tired and desperate away.

It took one parishioner with a heart to step up for one Venezuelan man.

His name was Alfonso and “he simply showed up one morning,” said Arlen Hershberger, a retired oil and gas executive.

A bus from El Paso had dropped Alfonso, 26, downtown, and he had been walking the streets for three days without sleep, he told Hershberger, to keep from getting robbed. Hershberger described Alfonso as being so tired that day, that if he closed his eyes, his head would slump down and he would fall asleep.

Hershberger called a friend who spoke Spanish and they found a Motel 6 for Alfonso, where he could get a shower and a six-day rest. They also took him to the city shelter on the Auraria Campus to get signed up for services.

Hershberger is concerned that many of the immigrants crossing the border may have the wrong idea.

“It seems to me that they think America is the land of gold and they’re finding out it’s just really not that way,” he said.

Word of mouth has brought others to Denver’s First Menonite Church.

Weeks before Alfonso ended up there, two families arrived at the door looking for assistance. They eventually brought in a third family.

“They heard from a church in Indiana that Menonites would help,” said Stephanie Phibbs, who, along with a group of parishioners, raised $5,000 and found housing for the newly arrived people, who included children.

The three families have since gotten on their feet and are finding work doing construction, washing cars and odd jobs.

Phibbs, whose mother escaped East Berlin in the mid-50’s with only a small suitcase, has a special place in her heart for anyone seeking a better life.  “All I know is we have been told to love, to welcome, to clothe and feed the stranger. It’s an honor to be seeing what opens up as we seek to follow that guidance,” she said.

In less than 10 days in Denver, the of number immigrants has more than doubled in city shelters, with as many as 400 arriving daily. That number could increase after Title 42 expires at midnight Thursday.

Called “Title 42,” a the portion of the U.S. code, the Trump-era policy allowed authorities to swiftly expel immigrants to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

Immigrants apprehended under Title 42 were returned to their home countries or sent back to Mexico.

Answering the call

Last December, a Venezuelan parishioner at Providence Bible Church invited 10 immigrants to attend a service.

Sixty people showed up.

“I was like ‘Holy cow!’” said Henry Hendrickson, a Denver contractor with a wife and two kids. “When they tell us how they got here, they look over their shoulders and say, ‘The jungle.’ They say they walked over every bridge and swam through rivers. We were wide-eyed.”

The next weekend, the sixty brought even, more and Providence expanded its afternoon Sunday service.

In a grassroots effort, Henrickson formed a group that placed 100 people in 30 apartments in North Aurora, where the rules regarding credit and red tape are more lax.

Henrickson said that placing people became a full-time job, and now their energy is going toward helping the families integrate into life in the United States.

For now, Providence Bible Church is too overwhelmed to respond to any more unexpected knocks at the door.

“In the last couple of weeks, we hit a wall. We had to cap this,” said Henrickson, who is hoping other faith-based organizations follow their lead. “The city is not going to pay for these people to be in center’s forever. From there, it’s homelessness. We need to meet people where they’re at and get them to take care of themselves.”

Denver Gazette reporter Nico Brambilla contributed to this report.