Since December I’ve been volunteering with No More Deaths, a volunteer-run humanitarian aid organization that aims to end death and suffering along the US/Mexico border. I’ve helped hike gallons of water into the Sonoran desert along known migrant trails, and I’ve also helped recover human remains. I wrote a piece about my experience so far for the Guardian-

“Finding human remains anywhere else in the US would be cause for public uproar – newspaper articles, grid searches, possible criminal investigation, a desperate scramble to connect the remains to a missing person. But not here, where we are, in the dry wilderness of southern Arizona, 40 miles from the US-Mexico border. Here, a person died an excruciating, untimely death far from the ones they loved, and their skull now rests in the center of an ocotillo bush, as though that was the most normal thing in the world.” -19,444 gallons of water in the desert: how volunteers save lives at the US border

I’ve also been chronicling the experience on instagram, if you’d like to see more photos- instagram.com/carrotquinn

No More Deaths is an incredible organization. They’re staffed entirely by volunteers, and in 2016 they put 19,444 gallons of water in the desert, over an area of 2500 square miles. They also staff a remote clinic in the desert 365 days a year and produce reports on human rights abuses around the border. Nearly all their budget comes from donations, and their biggest single expense is truck repairs- volunteers spend hours each day driving No More Deaths trucks on the roughest roads imaginable, in order to reach the most inaccessible corners of the desert, and multiple truck repairs are needed each week. I feel that in the coming months, groups that do work around the US/Mexico border, such as No More Deaths, are going to need extra support and protection- and if you’re looking for a way to support No More Deaths, here is a fundraiser for their truck repairs!

One Year of Truck Repairs and Water for No More Deaths

Even if you can’t donate- and I totally understand that not everyone can- please share this fundraiser with your own personal social networks- sharing helps just as much as donating! And thank you!!