Peace & Justice Committee of St. Michael's Church: Co-Sponsoring a Refugee Family

Our committee is preparing to welcome a refugee family from Syria. We will not know who they are or how many people are coming until approximately two weeks before their arrival, but the expected arrival time is in the first or second week of January. We are told to plan for a family of five or six. The resettlement organization we are partnering with is RefugeeOne in Chicago (http://www.refugeeone.org/).

RefugeeOne works with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration internationally, and in the US, the National Counterterrorism Center/ Intelligence Community, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the State Department. The process of screening and vetting takes an average of two years, but often longer.

As of November 7, 2016, 4.9 million refugees have fled Syrian since 2011. Another 8.7 million persons will be displaced within Syrian in 2016. Most who have been able to escape have sought safety in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq where they are housed by the UNHCR in refugee camps. So many people have fled to Lebanon, that Syrian refugees make up 20% of their population.

There are a few ways for people to help. We are raising funds: http://www.refugeeone.org/stmichaels.html. We have pledged to raise $6,000 to help with expenses for the family including English language training and job training. Another way to help is by donating or purchasing furniture and/or household items. If you would like to help, please contact peacellen123@gmail.com or call 847-340-5873. We are also stocking the pantry and filling the refrigerator for the family, but won’t begin this until we know when they are arriving. Thank you for considering ways to help us and our refugee family.