Build A Backpack

Build A Backpack and fill it full of supplies for guests staying at Casa de Paz this holiday season!

We love stuffing the empty packs completely full of fun essentials.

Why? Because we believe it's the right thing to do.  

What’s inside a backpack? 

  • Handmade “happy holidays” card 

  • $20 cash and one cell phone

  • Dinner, snacks, and holiday candy

  • Reusable water bottle 

How can I help? 

  • Drop off or mail us your holiday cards, backpacks, and other items on our wish list

  • Organize a donation drive at your school, workplace, or faith community. 

  • Make an online gift. We are a non-profit 501(c3) organization and all donations are tax-deductible.

Drop off location 

Email us and receive the house address.

We’re compiling a list of donation drop-off sites throughout the Denver metro area. Click here to ask for more info on turning your local small business, faith community, or school into a drop-off site. 

Mailing address

Please send holiday cards, wish list items, and financial gifts to: PO BOX 111351 Aurora, CO 80042

Deadline

What’s a deadline?! We love handing out party favors (backpacks) to guests all year long. Take your time, build the backpack with love, and when you’re ready to send in or drop off the items, we know it’ll be the perfect time.


Casa de Paz FAQs

What is Casa de Paz?

Casa de Paz means “house of peace” in Spanish. Since 2012, our team has welcomed more than 4,300 folks into our home. Speaking of homes, did you hear we fully paid off our house this summer?!  We call this casa our “forever home” and truly appreciate everyone who helped us reach our goal. 

Our home is full of home-cooked meals, coats, backpacks, toiletries, makeup, and other essential items. Once the ticket is in the hand of our guest, our volunteer team provides transportation to the airport and escorts folks all the way to their gate. 

Why do we do this? 

At Casa de Paz, we believe in treating complete strangers with kindness because that’s how we all deserve to be treated. We are kind to ourselves, to our guests, to our friends and families, and we are simply trying to make this world a better place for all of us to live in. 

Who are our guests?

First and most importantly, our guests are super special people.  

They’re from all over the world, 80 countries, and counting. Cool fact - eighty countries combined together is more than two-thirds of the entire planet! 

Most guests are already in contact with their families, friends, and sponsors who live somewhere in the United States. Almost everyone staying at Casa de Paz has just newly arrived to this country and voluntarily presented themselves at the Mexico/US border. After requesting asylum, many were handcuffed, taken into ICE custody, locked in a detention center along the border, and then transferred to Colorado. 

Just spend a little bit of time with our guests and you’ll soon see how much they teach us. Guests remind us that their “real” home is where they were living before fleeing or migrating to the US.

Where do guests go after being released from ICE?

At Casa de Paz, we have the unique opportunity to welcome many different guests into our home on a daily basis. We absolutely love having our home bursting full of new friends. 

We “just” get to spend a few hours with them as they make their way to their final destination.  

Where is the casa located? 

Our actual house is located across the street from the ICE immigrant detention center in Aurora, CO. 

But we are really located all over the country because our pen pal program operates in over 42 detention centers across thirteen states.  

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