$25,000 Refugee Family Relief Fund
At Home for Refugees, our desire and the core of our mission is to walk with refugees as they resettle here in the United States after having been forced to flee their home country. In any disaster, those on the margins are the first to experience the full impact, and this is already proving true with the spread of COVID-19. Most severely destabilized are the poor, which for our nonprofit, is our program’s refugee families.
Recently we did a fundraising campaign to raise funds needed to do initial assessments for all our former and current families. Because of your generosity we raised our total goal of $4200 to assess every family.
THANK YOU! The assessments are underway!
Our teams of community volunteers and our staff (Home Teams) are in the process of coordinating Zoom meetings with each family to ask specific questions about the impact on them from COVID-19. We are informing them of the necessary health precautions and ensuring they can access health providers. We also ask about the impact on their work, their monthly bills, and assess their food needs. We ask if their children have been able to connect online with their classroom and if they know how to turn in their homework. After the assessments, each Home Team determines a plan to work together with their family through the issues they discovered.
From the assessments we have been completed so far, we have been noticing a trend. All of our families have been affected by the loss of jobs or reduced work hours, by stress with helping their children navigate an unfamiliar online school system, and by anxiety from COVID-19 and health concerns. Our families are particularly having trouble during this quarantine paying for everyday living expenses.
Home for Refugees is helping our families get through this time by providing emergency funds for rent, household bills, and groceries so that when our country opens up, our families will be stable and won't be left in debt. Our new goal is to raise $25,000 to help our families and meet this urgent need. Please consider a donation of $100 or more to help us directly support families affected by the coronavirus. Will you contribute today?
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HOME FOR REFUGEES OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON THE COVID-19 CRISIS
The World Health Organization has now officially recognized the COVID-19 crisis as a pandemic, and at the time of this post, more than 200,000 individuals are already known to be infected throughout the world. Experts predict that these numbers will continue to rise exponentially.
At Home for Refugees, our desire and the core of our mission is to walk with and serve those in vulnerable situations. In any disaster, those on the margins are the first to experience the full impact, and this is already proving true with the spread of this novel coronavirus to the elderly, and impacting most severely the poor.
Through these next several months we will be working with our partners to continue to serve our clients in our work to restore hope and rebuild lives. While we do this, we will comply with expert advice and out of an abundance of caution, we are taking steps to protect our HFR staff members, volunteers, and all those we serve.
While our work is already done exclusively on a remote basis, all nonessential in-person visits to clients by volunteers will temporarily be suspended. Ongoing programming and services that are deemed essential will be conducted in observance of CDC hygiene recommendations and social distancing precautions, with the end goal of assisting in the efforts to help “flatten the curve” and mitigate the spread of the virus. Our staff will be working to communicate with existing and current clients to make sure their needs are met in a way that ensures each party’s safety.
Our prayer is that as representatives of communities of faith we would maintain our reputation for caring sacrificially for those who are most vulnerable among us during this crisis. We see this time of turbulence, not as a time to withdraw or hoard resources for ourselves, but to consider ways to serve others in our communities, and especially refugees and asylum-seekers who are already part of the most vulnerable among us.
Thank you for your care, support and faithfulness to our organization and those we serve. Together we will continue praying for the end of this disease, for those on the front lines, for our politicians and lawmakers, for the most vulnerable among us, and for wisdom for all of us as we live our lives in neighborly love, one to the other.
Serving in the name of Jesus,
Minda Schweizer
Executive Director
FAQ
Will I still be able to volunteer?
At this time, we are limiting in-person volunteer opportunities to emergency situations and doing most of our friendship building and resource connecting virtually with the families. So we still need volunteers, especially tech savvy ones! Please contact Minda Schweizer, m.schweizer@hfrusa.org, to find out our most pressing needs and ways you can help.
I’m getting a lot of different messages about coronavirus. How do I know what to believe?
We recommend visiting the CDC’s website for all updates regarding COVID-19 and for expert advice.
How is this impacting the refugee and immigrant communities?
Immigrant participants will feel the effects even more acutely. Already, several refugees who had just secured their first job—a huge step towards economic resilience—have been laid off. Schools are closing and refugee families are facing the added challenge of full-time childcare and online schooling from home. Those who are experiencing symptoms of sickness or who are in high-risk demographics will be experiencing the tangible effects of isolation, and a high level of additional mental and emotional stress during this time.
How can I help?
PRAY. We serve a God who sees and cares for our suffering. Pray for health care workers, pray for healing for those suffering from COVID-19, pray for those who have lost their jobs, pray for comfort for the lonely.
EMPLOY REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS. Refugees and immigrants are a disproportionately large portion of service industry and retail jobs. These sectors are some of the hardest-hit by this crisis.
ENGAGE YOUR LOCAL FAITH COMMUNITY. Work with your local networks to make sure the physical needs of those in your communities are being met.
GIVE. We plan to do a personal needs assessment with all of our current and former refugee families, to see how we can address any of their emergency needs during COVID-19. A GIFT OF $75 allows us to complete an assessment and helps us to to support them both practically and emotionally. Please consider a gift today to help us sustain vital services and meet the urgent needs of refugees amidst the COVID-19 crisis. We are hoping to raise $4,200 to assess all of our 56 current and former families. Thank you so much for your consideration and partnership. Click below to give today.
All gifts are tax deductible and go to support the families who need them most.