The Immigrant Legal Center’s annual Food Truck World Tour fundraiser is parking at a new location this year, but it promises the same wide selection of food and entertainment from Nebraska’s immigrant communities.

“Food is a universal language that brings everyone together,” ILC communications coordinator San Juana Paramo said in an interview with The Daily Record. “You may not speak the same language, but we can all get around the table and break bread and develop close, personal connections that way. And it’s always fun to share food from your culture with others and get to know each other more.”

This year’s food truck tour, the ILC’s seventh such event, will be held at Stinson Park at Aksarben Village on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The money raised will help fund ILC’s mission to “provide critical immigration legal services, advocacy and education for Nebraska and southwest Iowa’s low-income immigrant communities,” Paramo said.

“Everyone deserves access to equal and just representation,” Paramo said. “Immigrants face disproportionate legal challenges and having that access to representation really relieves the stressors that immigrant families and children face.”

Many of the immigrants that the nonprofit ILC helps were victims of domestic violence in their country of origin or children who have been abandoned, vulnerable refugees who need help navigating America’s immigration laws.

“When you immigrate to a new country, there’s a lot of fear, and part of that fear is tied to managing the legal landscape here in the U.S.,” Paramo said. “Through legal services, education and advocacy, ILC is unique in our ability to meet the ever-changing needs of immigrant communities because of our people, our partners and our promise to never turn any family away due to inability to pay.”

This year’s food tour will include cuisine from Mexico, Venezuela, Asia and New Orleans (Cajun and Creole). There will also be music and dancing from Dowds Irish Dance Academy, Karen Culture Organization of Omaha Don Dance Team, Omaha Pipes and Drums Band, and Linh Quang Lion and Dragon Dance troupe.

“Generally, we all love food and we all love trying food from different cultures, and I think (the food truck tour) really brings in a lot of people who are curious about other cultures and really want to help immigrants in our community and I think this is one great way to do so,” Paramo said.

Individual tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available online at immigrantlegalcenter.salsalabs.org/foodtruckworldtour. Adult tickets are $75, of which $40 is tax deductible, and children tickets are $15. Tickets can also be purchased at the park on the day of the event.

The Food Truck World Tour will also feature a tequila tasting add-on for adults 21 and older for an additional $25.