'The city of hope': Devoted refugee advocate Alain Mentha is mourned
When Alain Mentha launched a volunteer group to help refugees in 2018, he and his team made sure that families who had fled conflict and persecution had soft beds, winter coats and stocked kitchen pantries.
But Mentha, of Jersey City, also understood that starting one’s life anew in America meant more than housing, food and clothing. Through his group, Welcome Home Jersey City, he created a place of support, mentoring and friendship that transformed lives of refugees and asylees.
On Tuesday, the community of new Americans joined his family and longtime friends at Temple Beth-El in Jersey City to say goodbye. Mentha, 57, died on New Year’s Day after battling cancer for more than a year.
“Simply put, Alain Mentha changed the world,” said Rabbi Leana Moritt, who led the service. “Alain changed the world with his heart, his soul, his presence, his caring, and he did it saving one person at a time.”
Mentha was a devoted husband to Jennifer Strong Mentha and proud father to Amelie Mentha, and he was “passionate about everything he did in life,” his brother Daniel Mentha said in a statement read at the service. He was driven by a desire for justice and compassion for marginalized people, he added. His work with refugees and asylees gave him purpose.
The impact Mentha had could be seen in the rows at Temple Beth-El, packed with mourners on a rainy morning. They included Doaa Hussein and Amr Elhalwa, who said Mentha looked out for them and their two children after they arrived from Egypt seeking asylum in 2019.
“When we need anything, we call Alain, morning or night,” Hussein said, recalling how he lugged an air conditioning unit into her apartment the same day she spoke to him about overwhelming heat.
The family joined Welcome Home’s “Fun Club,” where about 100 people gather weekly to share a meal and practice English, while children play games and get homework help. They also have holiday parties and take trips to places like the zoo and the circus.
When the annual Jan. 1 circus trip to New York City was canceled due to COVID, Mentha organized an online viewing of the circus and dropped off cotton candy and popcorn at their homes.
“If we start talking about Alain, we can’t stop,” Hussein said. “He’s a good guy.”
Hussein made friends through the Fun Club, including Heba Zoaeir, also of Egypt, who joined mourners on Tuesday. Mentha helped find medical services for her son when he needed an operation to remove a brain tumor, Zoaeir said. He also secured a laptop she could use for her English classes at Hudson County Community College.
Mentha, too, was an immigrant. He was born in Canada, where French was his first language, and raised in Indiana. His father was originally from Switzerland, where his family had sheltered Jews fleeing the Nazis. The Jewish teaching emphasizing welcoming the stranger was part of his own ethos, he told The Record and the USA TODAY Network in a 2021 interview.
His friends described him as someone who excelled when he put his mind to a task. At a young age, Mentha was skilled at the violin, a “dazzling” pianist and a standout tennis player. He was interested in philosophy, literature and meditation and studied philosophy at Earlham College, graduating in 1986.
Living in Jersey City, he worked as a marketing manager in academic book publishing. In 2016, his life was transformed with a phone call. Outraged by anti-refugee rhetoric and moved by a desire to help those fleeing war in Syria, he called a local resettlement agency to volunteer. It was the day after Donald Trump was elected president.
"My wife and I talked and agreed we couldn't just be voters anymore," Mentha said in an interview. "We’re going to have to up our involvement in civic life. We knew, because immigration had been a big theme for the Trump campaign, that this was going to be affected."
Soon, he was setting up apartments and teaching English to newcomers. Wanting to do more, he co-founded Welcome Home Jersey City in 2018, and it has helped hundreds of people find jobs, furnish homes and get needed items like laptops and bicycles, among other services. The group hosts clothing drives and holiday parties.
Mentha loved spending time with his daughter, attending her school events and volunteering alongside his family. He was a Democratic committeeman in Jersey City, and his advocacy continued even through illness. In a letter to the Hudson County View, he called for Amy DeGise, a councilwoman involved in a hit-and-run with a cyclist, to resign, saying it was his "dying wish."
"He had a temperament that could not abide injustice or suffer fools,” said Priti Chitnis Gress, vice chair of Welcome Home Jersey City. "As he noted, he sprang into action the very day after the 2016 election. He channeled his anger into serving this very special community."
Though his efforts, “Alain made Jersey City the city of hope for so many families," she added.
That hope extended to Christophe Kagne and Brigitte Boyalkaya, who came from Chad in 2014. Mentha helped them file work authorization papers and get a lawyer for their asylum case. Their children loved playing games and making friends through the Fun Club and were thrilled when Welcome Home sponsored them for summer camp.
The family's asylum case is scheduled to be heard in immigration court next month.
“He should be here to see the outcome of our case,” Kagne said, wiping tears from under his glasses. “I am sad he is not.”
Mentha's family has requested that donations be made to Welcome Home Jersey City in his memory. The Alain Fund will be established to help children of families assisted by Welcome Home with expenses related to higher education.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Alain Mentha refugee advocate remembered
