Bus run by nonprofit picks up migrants at a Denver motel, takes them to shelter
On Sunday, a bus provided by the nonprofit ViVe Wellness showed up taking dozens of people to other shelters. Still, most of these people don't really know what's next.
Individuals were taken to a congregate shelter in Denver, while some families were taken to either an apartment or a house.
At the congregate shelter, individuals will only be able to stay there for two weeks before having to get up, pack up their things and leave again.
At least 70 moved into this temporary shelter, but many were still clueless about the next steps.
A couple of migrants CBS Colorado's Jasmine Arenas spoke with said they were not sure where they were going.
For two to five months, hundreds of those who were staying at the Western Motor Inn motel had made it their home. Most of these people had never experienced life at a Denver shelter.
Thirty-year-old Venezuelan migrant Brenda Torres says the motel is all she had ever known in Denver.
"I have mixed feelings about leaving because I have been sick and things haven't been good," said Torres.
She says she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and now has to figure out where to live when her time at the shelter comes to an end in two weeks.
"I am afraid of ending up on the streets and dying from the cold," said Torres.
Yoli Casas, CEO of ViVe Wellness, says she'll try her best to prevent that from happening. The organization has been helping house migrants for more than a year and has been an essential key for many during this migrant crisis.
"They'll be taken care of at this congregate shelter, and we will help figure out a plan for them, some people have no idea that they can get into groups of fours and maybe rent a place," said Casas.
After speaking with several tenants, some expressed they had been paying at least $120 weekly to be able to stay at the motel, but they know it won't be that affordable elsewhere. For those who did not have a job, Yong Prince says she allowed them to stay rent-free.
The property owner, Yong Prince, has been helping house migrants at her motel for at least five months, but she tells us she recently sold the property for $6 million, and now people have to leave.
Her goal remains to buy or lease another property and take a couple families with her.
"I told them I'm going to buy property, chicken, goats, anything and they can work," said Yong Prince.
Despite a desire to buy another property elsewhere, Prince believes some people will wind up homeless and living in the streets.
However, she wishes those who left the motel well.
"I hope they have a good life," said Prince.
So people like Brenda Torres have a chance to make a life for themselves in the U.S.
ViVe Wellness says it did what it felt was right and that's to get some people into a temporary shelter.
The nonprofit plans to offer additional aid to those staying at the shelter, but adds resources are already stretched thin helping so many people and families coming to Colorado.
In the past year, the city of Denver has helped serve nearly 40,000 migrants and has predicted to spend $180 million on the crisis.
