If you’re reading this, you know that a large groundswell of anti-Muslim and anti-refugee sentiment has been rising lately, fueled in no small part by the 2016 GOP Primary race, as each candidate tries to out-hate the next, led by the vomitous caldera of misanthropy, Donald J. Trump.
The hate had been getting to me. It felt like these candidates and their supporters were stealing from me all the best of America and fueling the worst. It left me feeling helpless against the tide.
I don’t like feeling helpless.
So I did something about it.
I am a homeowner, and my children have left for college and career; with two free bedrooms I though I could offer up my home as a place for refugees to live in temporary housing.
Long story there, but I’ll cut it short to get to the meat of the story: Turns out US law and regulation don’t allow for temporary housing for immigrating refugees; they must be placed in permanent housing when they arrive.
So I looked for a plan B.
There are five agencies that work with the government to resettle refugees in the state of Minnesota. They include Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, the Minnesota Council of Churches, Arrive Ministries, and the agency with which I chose to work, the International Institute of Minnesota.
I contacted them and asked if it would be possible to directly sponsor a refugee family and provide them with all their initial starting needs.
IIMN hadn’t done this before but were excited by the idea. I explained that while I couldn’t do it myself, I had a network of like-minded friends that were eager to step up and help.
So we agreed to work together on this.
I said that I would most like to sponsor a Syrian refugee family, and if that wasn’t possible, a Muslim family from another nation. I was told that while IIMN isn’t sponsoring any Syrian families, that they do place a large number of other Muslim families, particularly from Somalia. (Minneapolis has a large Somali community).
So we talked details. It turns out that a full set of furniture — beds, end tables, sofa, kitchen table and chairs — costs around $800 for a family of four. Couple that with two kits — a toiletries kit and a cleaning kit — and we’re looking at well south of $1000. A family of eight might cost $1200.
I was stunned that a family could need so little to get started.
So she said the next Somali family — and they place more than a dozen each month — that was coming would be ours to sponsor, and I said I’d get to work making plans with my family and friends.
Less than 24 hours ago I provided the details to my friends on Facebook and launched a private group to plan it out.
Within 24 hours, not including my own donations, my friends have ponied up $1250 — well on the way to providing furniture and goods for not one, but TWO families. Friends have also claimed three of the four kits for two families. Several other friends have stepped up to help physically move the new furniture into the apartment, and others have offered to provide long-term support and mentoring to help the refugees learn the day by day details of living in the United States (filling out school registration forms, job applications, utilities bills, stuff like that)
I have never received a gift, not holiday nor birthday, as wonderful as this. A group of people have gotten together and said, “We are Americans. We welcome people in need and we stand up to help them, and to bring them into our community. We reject the hatred poisoning our political process and we replace it with love.”
My Grinchy little heart has grown three sizes today. My chest swells with pride and my eyes well with gratitude.
I know, dear Kossacks, there are many people in many different economic situations here in the house of Orange. But those of you who have the ability to provide either time or resources to support an incoming refugee family in the United States, may I humbly suggest you reach out to a refugee resettlement agency and ask them if you can do so. You can find an agency in your area here, through the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Let each of us, in our small way, show our fellow Americans that love triumphs, that hate is not our way of life, and that we will always live by the words of Emma Lazarus, at the foot of the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Let us always keep that golden door opened and lit.
Happy Holidays to everyone, and may your 2016 be wonderful.
Thursday, Dec 24, 2015 · 9:41:14 PM +00:00
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raptavio
Since writing this I’m up to $1375 in pledged donations. Seriously. This is the best feeling in the world. If you and your friends can do it, sponsor a refugee family.
This is just the money gathering phase. When we actually get to help the family it’ll be so much better. SO much better. I promise a new diary when that happens.