Afghan Refugee Project
Update: February 23, 2023
Some of you may remember that, about a year ago, our congregation decided to support Afghan refugees. To that end, the church accepted donations from FUMC members and friends, and also recruited people to be part of the “team” that would adopt an Afghan refugee family.
The Global Mission Committee worked closely with Lutheran Community Services Northwest (LCSNW), one of the agencies in Portland approved to work with refugees, and several in our church family took a training course through LCSNW.
Sadly, while we received generous donations (totaling $7,115), we were never able to find enough volunteers to take the training and do the work, so the “adoption” never happened. For the past year, the money has languished in the FUMC bank account, while we struggled to find a way to best put it to use, while respecting the original intent of the donors.
The Global Mission Committee and clergy worked closely together and ultimately decided that they money could best be utilized by LCSNW in their ongoing work with refugees – both Afghan and Ukranian. On February 8, Revs. Karyn and Ethan, joined by committee members Spence Williams and Dee Poujade went to the headquarters of LCSNW to present a check to Program Coordinator Anthony Pinchuk. “Thank you a lot for your generous gift of $7115! We will put it in our emergency fund to use for rent, food, utilities, furniture and other expenses newly arrived refugees face,” he wrote in appreciation.
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