Refugee Welcome Update

Spring is full of hope and the promises of new beginnings. During this Lenten season, we anticipate Christ’s resurrection as we study what came before Easter:  40 grim days in the desert and a sorrowful crucifixion.

In hope, The Table is now anticipating the placement of our third refuge family, since we were notified of their arrival in Sacramento this week—almost 40 days to the day after the Jan. 27 executive order on immigration restrictions was signed. Hope springs eternal.

What do new beginnings look like as church volunteers prepare to welcome the family of three from Afghanistan only hours after being notified of their arrival? Secure a 1-bedroom apartment. Pronto! Consult caseworkers to get the key to the place. Search the social hall stage for that baby crib someone donated, because we don’t need a twin bed after all. A baby is coming. We need a crib! Does the crib have a mattress? The baby needs a mattress to sleep on. Order a mattress, quick. What about a bedroom dresser? And who can help truck a loveseat and a dining room set, among other furniture, from the church to the new apartment? Need to rent a U-Haul. With love and haste, many are scrambling to make sure the couple and their baby have a fully equipped home Friday.

And we watch in hope and in love as we help the refugee family who came to us in January, a family of five, settle into their Sacramento home two months after their arrival. They are now legal residents, thanks to the green cards they received two weeks ago. The Farsi-speaking couple are going through placement tests to find out which ESL classes are best for them as they learn the twists and turns of the English language at the local high school.

Farhid has experienced yet another American rite of passage:  He passed the test for a driving permit. Life will be easier for the family with a licensed driver in car-centric Sacramento to drive them around. The children need rides to school now that they’re enrolled. Six-year-old Oranus wears her school uniform each day to her new school, and her 4-year-old brother Arash will join her soon. He is on a wait list for the school’s preschool.

Eventually, Farhid will be able to drive the family to medical and dental appointments, too. But for now, a team of church volunteers will coordinate drivers to get the family to their March medical check-ups and April dentist visits.

Meeting the material needs of our new families is an important way to reach out in love, but so is fighting the forces that threaten both them and our American way of life, a centuries-old tradition of welcoming displaced people.

So we want you to know of the behind-the-scenes political advocacy spearheaded by The Table’s Greg Eddy & Dorothy Lingren. A group from our church met Feb. 22 with aides from U.S. Representative Ami Bera’s (D-Sacramento County) California office. Bera has been an outspoken opponent of both executive order travel bans, and he helped introduce the SOLVE Act with other Congressional members to block the Jan. 27 order. Dorothy and several others from The Table shared the stories of our refugee families with Bera’s aides. The stories of “real” people help to put faces on the edicts of faceless immigration bans. Greg says a meeting is planned on March 9 with the staff of United States Senator Kamala Harris at her Sacramento office.

How grateful we are to be part of a community who reaches in love to the poor, the lost, and the disenfranchised among us.

-Dianne Heimer (March 9, 2017)

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