Immigrant groups and volunteers in El Paso are working overtime this Christmas season, Axios' Stef Kight reports.

Why it matters: Asylum-seekers and migrants are waiting at the border, some caught off guard by the historic arctic freeze.

• Earlier this week, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who represents El Paso, told Axios: "Everybody's working as quickly as possible to make sure that those facilities are available."
• The city is in a state of emergency over the influx of migrants.
• Multiple shelters are way over capacity and are having to turn people away, CNN reports.

Zoom out: The Red Cross is on the hunt for facilities to set up emergency shelter operations that could sleep up to 10,000 people, Escobar told Axios.

• The local Catholic diocese is set to open additional space in the city to hold roughly 800 migrants and asylum-seekers.
• HOPE Border Institute staff planned to take a few weeks at the end of the year to recharge. "Now, that's not possible," Dylan Corbett, the founding executive director of the group, told Axios.

Some hospitality sites are preparing holiday meals and religious services, said Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, which coordinates a network of shelters in the El Paso area.

• "When people in the shelters get together, they are absolutely wanting to join in prayer services," Garcia said. "They want to talk about how they feel safe. ... 'God has allowed me to be safe and it’s Christmas.'"

How to help:

• Annunciation House
• Border Servant Corps
• HOPE Border Institute

Drifting snow blankets headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery in Mandan.

In Nashville, flurries fall on tourists on Broadway.

1. 🎰 Big jackpot: More than a half billion dollars is up for grabs in the year's second-largest Mega Millions jackpot, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports.
2. 🕶️ Good news: A key inflation gauge showed another month of cooling price increases, Axios Macro co-author Courtenay Brown reports.

A nonprofit is teaming up with health care providers, insurance companies and community organizations to give hungry U.S. households a reprieve, Axios fellow Ayurella Horn-Muller reports.

Why it matters: "We think a lot about the erosion of culture and heritage that results from food insecurity," said Josh Trautwein, CEO and co-founder of About Fresh. "And we feel that the most acutely during the holidays."

In 2018, About Fresh launched Fresh Connect, a produce prescription program that provides a stipend through a prepaid debit card for participants to purchase fresh food items at local grocery stores.

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