The Welcoming Project: Loving God By Loving People
Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39
The Welcoming Project is an effort to resettle a refugee family in New Britain. SUM members Sue and Mike Sames oversee the project in collaboration with fifty volunteers from across the community, under the aegis of Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), a CT non-profit.
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan continues to generate a surge of calls to IRIS with offers of help. IRIS referred many callers to Sue and Mike. “We have an ‘all-star’ group of over 50 volunteers including retired social workers, lawyers, a former assistant superintendent of schools, construction pros, and 20 interpreters, some of whom were immigrants themselves,” Sue reports. “It’s exciting to be part of a truly interfaith group. We represent a synagogue, two mosques, at least 7 churches, and of course some members are not affiliated with any organization, but we have all come together to make a difference.”
All of the Abrahamic traditions include an imperative to care for these “strangers” who are living in our lands. As Mike says, “It is important that we welcome them on their own terms, not ours. We’ve all learned a great deal about Afghan culture. It’s also opening our eyes about how so many people live frugally to get by on public assistance.”
SUM is serving as the 501(c)3 non-profit underpinning this effort, currently one of approximately 45 Connecticut co-sponsoring organizations helping resettle refugees. IRIS delegates the overall responsibility to co-sponsors for services a family needs to become self-sufficient and integrated into their new communities. The volunteers are responsible for fundraising, housing, finding employment opportunities, enrolling kids in school, helping find language classes and medical care, teaching how to shop for groceries and clothing, and navigating public benefits for eligible families.
Over the past several months, The Welcoming Project has raised enough money to help the family with their budget for about a year. They have obtained a year’s lease on a 4-bedroom apartment and have completed necessary renovations in record time. They are eagerly waiting to be matched with an appropriate family through IRIS; and although they expect it to be an Afghan family, there are also Syrian and Congolese families coming through the system who need love and support.
Want to help? To donate: make your check to Simsbury United Methodist Church and write Refugee in the memo line. Mail it to SUM at 799 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury, CT 06070. By Venmo: search for Simsbury-UMC and write Refugee in the comment. To make an in-kind donation: needs include an electric dryer and two barstools, lamps, and various smaller items. Of course, the greatest reward comes from volunteering directly with the family. Volunteering requires six hours general IRIS training. For more information, email Sue and Mike (refugee@sumct.org).
“These are traumatized but resilient people, trying to start their lives here while not being able to help loved ones back home,” Sue says. “We’ve committed ourselves to learning more about what life is really like for these folks. We can’t solve the problem, but we can make it better for a few. The committee has found the process exciting and hugely rewarding. It’s a privilege to help fellow human beings.”
- Sue & Mike Sames
