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December Update
Thank you for your tremendous support in 2017 for Arrive Ministries and the refugees we serve together. This Fall our Refugee Life Ministries (RLM) program trained and matched 13 church teams and four New Neighbor volunteers to refugee and asylum families. Relationships are being built as lives are shared, human dignity is restored and families prosper because of the encouragement and support they are receiving. Thank you for the several hundred volunteers who serve our new friends through RLM.
However, our Reception and Placement (R&P) program has been able to resettle less than 2 dozen new refugees since October because of restrictions and new government policies. Please pray for those who continue to wait to be reunited with their loved ones. Please pray that justice and compassion would prevail for hurting and dislocated peoples. Please pray as our Immigration Legal Service (ILS) program continues to help 100+ refugees every month file family-reunification, green-card and citizenship documents.
In December, we received another generous donation of beds (frames, box springs, mattresses, mattress covers and quilts) from Slumberland Furniture. We are grateful for the generosity of the Larson family and the 40 Winks Foundation for coming alongside refugees again this year.
We have also been blessed by the beautiful culturally-sensitive dolls that Don’t Cry, I’m Here organization has been making and donating to us to give to refugee children. Thank you Gail Harvey and your team for these gifts of love that brighten the lives of many. We are grateful for the hundreds who weekly give of their time and talents to say to refugees, “You are Welcome here!”
Whether you serve at one of two dozen Somali Adult Literacy Training (SALT) sites; teach sewing, quilting or help with sports outreach through Rajo, or provide much needed donations of household items for refugee families, you are the ones living out the Gospel. Thank you for putting love into action as you help us to restore human dignity, renew hope and “welcome the stranger” in the name of Jesus.
