Via Mary’s Center.

Local community organizations will hold a vigil outside the White House tonight in support of unaccompanied children from Central America arriving in the D.C. area.

The vigil will be led by Mary’s Center, a health center that says it has served over 500 children from Central America during the past three months “with wraparound care services, including counseling and mental health, comprehensive medical care and linkages to community resources such as clothing, legal advice, housing and education.” The cost of serving the children released by Border Patrol at four local locations: $400,000, according to the Washington Business Journal.

“Each child comes with different needs and based on those needs, we intervene accordingly,” says Dr. Christian Cornejo, Mary’s Center’s chief medical officer, said in a statement. Many of these children, according to Mary’s Center, “have experienced violence, sexual assault, and emotional trauma during their journey.”

The number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. southwest border from Central America increased sharply between 2013 and 2014, according to U.S. Customs and Border Control. Nearly 63,000 children were apprehended between October 1, 2013 and July 31, 2014. That’s compared with 31,491 children during that period between 2012 and 2013.

More than 4,000 of these children were in the D.C. area with sponsors as of July 31, as WAMU reports, many fleeing violence and gangs in their native country.

Attendees will meet outside St. John’s Episcopal Church at 16th and H streets NW at 6:30 p.m.