(light upbeat music) - Hello, my name is Caroline Salazar.

- My name is Andrew Davila.

(speaking in Spanish) - Austin (indistinct).

- [Bill] Some new parishioners at the Church of the Messiah on Detroit's East side, on March Sunday.

- I am ready to bring it.

God is in the house.

- [Bill] Pastor Barry Randolph presiding.

- We noticed an influx of Latinos in the community.

Everybody in the community told them to come to the church.

They came to the church and of course, because they were immigrants, they were shipped here, it is believed from Texas.

It was kind of crazy.

So we immediately jumped into action, making sure that they had the necessities of life.

- A lot of them didn't have shoes when they came.

It was dead winter.

They didn't have boots, they didn't have socks.

They would walk around in flip flops, no coats.

So we got right on that and started getting donations.

I even got stuff from my home and reached out to a lot of other people to get stuff from their home to just bring it so they could have something that day.

- [Bill] Jennine Spencer Gilbert leads the church program.

She said more than 60 migrants originally from Venezuela have arrived since December.

They've been placed in a shelter just down the street.

- It's so funny, you always hear of Chicago, New York, you hear of these different places and you don't necessarily think Detroit.

And then lo and behold, it's Detroit.

- At Church of Messiah, we made a pantry for, not just for the immigrants, but for people that are in total need.

- [Bill] The church's computer labs turned into a distribution center for other organizations that need help too.

- Churches from all over, religious organizations, political leaders, activists, all got involved.

So it's not just Church of the Messiah, it's a lot of groups who are really helping to make this happen.

- Why we are building this boat, we are also selling it.

And you know, that's difficult because we don't have the resources.

So we've asked for people for donations and donations start pouring in, but we still need more.

So we use the phones to translate English and Spanish 'cause none of us, I don't know how to speak Spanish just a little bit.

And that's how we communicate.

(translator speaking in Spanish) - [Bill] Bellavelle Marino and her family of five came from Caracas.

- She said, I came from Venezuela four months ago with her family.

She has a special needs son as well that needs help and assistance who has been sick.

- [Bill] The church is helping place the children in schools.

(speaking in Spanish) - [Jennine] And Maria here is my lead.

In her country, she used to be a lab technician.

Her and I, we work closely together.

- Yeah!

- Yeah!

- We are building learning English and Spanish.

I've challenged her to learn five words from me a week.

I learn five words from them a week or sometimes I'm a little more challenged.

(laughs) - [Bill] The Church of the Messiah offers English classes too.

Nancy Chin and Kim Hodge provide the instruction.

(speaking in Spanish) The reasons these migrants left Venezuela, they say, economic hardship and political corruption.

Hyperinflation and poverty led to outmigration.

Seven million people according to the United Nations, some coming to the US.

(speaking in Spanish) Maria Rojas says the politicians caused the economic crisis.

And when her son joined marches against the government, he was threatened with death.

She and her family went to Peru.

It was there, she says, unfortunately, her husband died.

(speaking in Spanish) - He says, we are a family of three members.

Our trip was a little strong and hard.

We passed through eight countries to be able to get here.

Thank God we achieved it.

Were trips, were nights and day, rain, snow, sun.

But God, thank God we are here to try to fulfill each of our goals and dreams.

- We are grateful that they wound up in our neighborhood because we know that we can make a difference.

And then we also too, what is it like to have to leave your home country to go to another country to try to live and be acclimatized into that society?

That's gotta be difficult.

- So now a lot of them have just now received some of their paperwork, their IDs.

So now they're able to work, but they don't have transportation.

So they need bus passes.

We also need more funding because every week by them living in a homeless shelter, they're not getting proper nutrition.

So once a week on Sundays, we make sure that they get a full course meal.

- We always think about the population decrease in Detroit.

And we always think about how are the different ways that we can increase the population.

Well, this might be one of the things, and it's one of the things we didn't ask for.

But since they're here and they need a better place, a better environment, let's help make that happen.

- We are ready to work and ready to help this city be completely restored.

And we thank you for all the support you have given us in this moment.

Aw, yay!

- Yay!

- Whether you are from Venezuela or from (indistinct) you can come to Church of the Messiah.

We gonna make a better environment.

So let's go.