Elizabeth Matherne is the lead attorney for a branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative.  She closed her practice and moved to be an advocate for those needing a voice. “I feel a great sense of purpose holding our government accountable to people they would rather throw away like trash,” she says. “I am part of a team shining a light on the shadows where the injustice hides and festers. Those shadows are darkest and widest for people without celebrity or vast resources. We can’t change the outcome for everyone but we can make sure every stone is overturned and people understand what is happening.”

Our laws haven’t changed… just those enforcing them. Immigrants, like ourselves, deserve due process under the law. Due to that, “because Liberty is at stake” is something Elizabeth and her team say to themselves daily. Liberty is not the only thing taken from these immigrants as they fight for a chance to remain here. Our government is doing their best to strip their humanity away as well. Lawyers like Elizabeth are doing what they can in this uphill battle.  They are changing the directions of their futures to do this work because they know that immigrants need a voice like theirs in order to shine the light.

www.aplos.com/aws/give/CIVIC/Freedom-Maker
National Immigration Bond Fund

Kristin Rodriguez started quilting in 2005. Her style has varied over the years as she explores the world of quilting. Kristin has settled into using mainly her own hand-dyed fabrics/fibers to create layers of texture in her pieces. She collaborates often on pieces with her mother, Janelle Girod, with whom she also teaches, for their business Fiber on a Whim. Over the last few years her work has been featured in several magazines, books, and also on Quilting Arts TV. www.fiberonawhim.com