September 12, 2020 marks the beginning of Welcoming Week. Welcoming Week is an initiative started by Welcoming America that celebrates the immigrants and refugees who bring important gifts and talents to our communities. This year’s WW theme is Creating Home Together. This theme rings particularly true with our welcoming community in the DMV. Together, with the help of volunteers, GNPs, and community supporters, LSSNCA welcomes hundreds of refugees and immigrants to the DMV each year. We could not create such welcoming and hospitable communities without the support of our many partners.
We hope you will join us this year in celebration of our clients and our communities. You can participate in Welcoming Week with the following schedule of events:
CHEERS FOR CHARITY
September 13 – 20
Beau Thai restaurants in DC are throwing their support behind refugee resettlement by donating 10% of all wine sales to the critical needs of DMV refugees. The week’s funds raised will directly benefit our refugee and immigrant populations in Maryland and Virginia. All funds will contribute to the critical needs of newly-arrived families including household items, furnishings, and hygiene items that must be provided in the home in anticipation of a new family’s arrival. You can participate by ordering online or in person at their Mt. Pleasant and Shaw locations.
CREATING HOME TOGETHER
Virtual panel on Zoom
Tuesday, September 15, 6:30PM
Join LSSNCA and community partners – Homes Not Borders, Peace Lutheran Alexandria, and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) – for a virtual discussion on how YOU can help make the DMV home for refugees and immigrants. In celebration of Welcoming Week, LSSNCA is hosting a live Zoom panel on Tuesday, September 15 at 6:30pm. Hear how these organizations have worked to welcome refugees in Maryland and Virginia and learn how you can continue to support the work of creating home for refugees and immigrants in the DMV. Register here.
WATER IS LIFE
Purchase a t-shirt designed by one of our Maryland refugee youth in support of the Refugee Youth Career Pathways programming. Funds raised will support the RYCP by providing assistance for online classes and certifications. Purchase a shirt here!
The t-shirts on sale feature a design by youth client, Mujtaba. Fun fact: Mujtaba turns 21 years old on September 12 (during our fundraiser and Welcoming Week)! Mujtaba is originally from Afghanistan and came to the US in 2020. He has plans to become a pilot and says this is the start of his new journey in America. Mujtaba named his design “Please do not waste water.” His home country, Afghanistan, as well as many other countries, face water shortages. According to Mujtaba “it is important to save water and use only as much as we need, this is all of our responsibility to save water and to not waste it or we will face problems, water is one the basic needs of humans.” The design depicts a “happy water pot.” This pot is happy because it is pouring out and wasting the water. That makes the pot happy because it is a lighter load for the pot to carry. If the pot is full and the water is being saved, the pot is angry because it is so heavy. We as humans, however, want the pot to be angry and should strive to conserve water however we can. This is a cause that Mujtaba feels very strongly about, having seen water shortages hurt his own country.
KAMA DC – How to Welcome and Support Refugees in the DMV
Thursday, September 17 at 7PM
Moving to a new country can be exciting, daunting, and more often not, both. But by fostering community initiatives of welcoming, we can make this transition easier for refugees and immigrants.
In honor of Welcoming Week, KAMA DC invites you to join them for a virtual panel event and discussion about how each of us can do our part to welcome refugees and immigrants to the DMV. Hear from representatives of each of the DMV refugee resettlement agencies about how you can actively be involved in the resettlement process; and hear from a recently resettled Afghan refugee about how his Northern Virginia community helped welcome him and his family. The panel will be moderated by Sarah Seniuk, Advocacy and Communications Manager of RCUSA, will feature an LSSNCA Afghan client, and will feature speakers from each of the local resettlement agencies: LSSNCA, ECDC, the IRC, and Catholic Charities.
*For more ways to support LSSNCA’s refugee and immigrant clients in the DMV all year long, check out our donation and volunteer pages!
Serve Boldly 