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In a New, 10-State Program, CWS is Helping Displaced Hurricane Survivors Become Self-Sufficient in Their New Communities
Eric Robinson, right, a medical evacuee from New Orleans, turned to the CWS/IRP Miami Office for help getting his Red Cross debit card to work. Caseworker Jorge Marrero, left, promptly took him to the local Red Cross office to resolve the problem.
Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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New York City – The humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) is providing comprehensive, individualized services to U.S. Gulf hurricane evacuees who have been displaced to 10 states, helping them become self-sufficient in their new communities – whether their stay ultimately is short or long.
Church World Service – the only voluntary agency helping Gulf hurricane survivors that has both an in-house domestic emergency response unit and a refugee resettlement program – is applying its professional refugee case management experience to help meet the particular needs of Americans displaced by the Gulf hurricanes.
CWS polled its 42 local affiliate refugee resettlement agencies to ascertain whether they anticipated serving evacuees, and if so, how many, and to offer CWS's support and coordination. Eight affiliates and the CWS field office in Miami, Florida, returned project proposals and will provide an agreed-upon portfolio of services to evacuees, depending on an assessment of each person's needs.
This privately funded program, says Erol Kekic, Acting Director of the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program, "is intended to assist uprooted people currently living in temporary arrangements and, often, under tenuous conditions, recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency in communities to which they have found their way or have been relocated."
Giving priority to people most in need, the program is helping hurricane evacuees sort out the myriad disaster relief programs; find jobs, health care, and affordable housing; get their children enrolled in school, and get oriented to and integrated into their new communities.
"The people we serve are not and will not be left to fend for themselves," Kekic said. "We are committed to serving people professionally and in a uniform, not ad hoc, way. Moreover, we will be seeking evacuees’ input along the way and making adjustments according to what they need from the program."
Services are being provided through CWS's established network of local agencies normally serving refugees resettled from around the world. Every year, Church World Service serves tens of thousands of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers with case processing, resettlement, chaplaincy, legal, and other services. Over the past 60 years, CWS has helped nearly 450,000 refugees – people who have fled persecution in their home countries to seek safety in other countries – begin new lives in the United States. Each year, approximately 5,000 additional refugees resettle in the U.S. under CWS auspices.
Following Hurricane Katrina, as survivors began to move – and be moved – to various sites across the United States, CWS quickly became convinced that the refugee resettlement model could be adapted to meet the needs of Gulf Coast residents displaced within the United States.
"CWS and its affiliates are adept at leveraging a wide range of community-based resources to welcome refugees and help them become self-sufficient," Kekic said. "It's not a big leap for us to be able to adjust those resources to fit the needs of people in our own country who have also lost everything and are starting over in new places.
"We'll help these newcomers connect into the rich fabric of social contacts, engaging local church and secular partners in facilitating their integration through the gift of personal attention, friendship, and time. Our network feels privileged to be able to lend a hand in responding to Gulf hurricane survivors’ needs and give something back to communities that have supported refugee resettlement for so long."
National church bodies that support the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program stepped forward with special funding for the new program of assistance to hurricane evacuees, and additional money is being raised as part of public appeals for funds to support a broad CWS program of assistance to Gulf hurricane survivors. CWS/IRP participating denominations are: American Baptist Churches USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Reformed Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ, and The United Methodist Church.
Along with the CWS Miami Office, the following eight CWS affiliates each are providing services in several communities in their respective states:
- Georgia: Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta, based in Atlanta.
- Illinois: Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, based in Chicago.
- Kentucky: Kentucky Refugee Ministries, with offices in Louisville and Lexington.
- Michigan: Programs Assisting Refugee Acculturation/Bethany Christian Services, based in Grand Rapids.
- North and South Carolina: Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, with offices in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Hickory, N.C., and in Columbia, S.C.
- Tennessee: Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, with offices in Knoxville and Bristol.
- Texas: Refugee Services of Texas, with offices in Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth; an Amarillo office will open in October.
- Virginia: Virginia Council of Churches, with offices in Richmond and Harrisonburg.
CWS is enlisting and training local congregations and other volunteers on ways they can provide moral and material support to evacuees, moving them beyond the "offer of an extra bedroom." CWS will not be placing evacuees with host families, but rather will help evacuees find their own affordable transitional housing, working on the local level with such partners as FEMA and HUD.
The CWS case management program "is strictly voluntary on the part of the beneficiaries," Kekic said. Gulf hurricane evacuees will be free to "opt into or out of" the program. Potential participants will get full information about the program, and individual needs will be assessed. Clients' confidentiality will be respected.
Church World Service is an ecumenical emergency response, development, and refugee assistance agency, working in more than 80 countries, including the United States. In addition to case management services for Gulf hurricane evacuees, CWS also is providing emergency assistance to areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To date, CWS has shipped more than $1.25 million in donated material assistance, including CWS Blankets and "Gift of the Heart" Health, School, and Kids Kits, and Emergency Clean-Up Buckets. CWS has also partnered with UNICEF to distribute school and recreation materials. Church World Service is also supporting trauma care through its Interfaith Trauma Response Trainings (ITRT) for Gulf hurricane caregivers and direct trauma care through its Spiritual and Emotional Care Response (SECR) team of volunteer professional counselors.
Contributions to support these efforts may be sent to your denomination or directly to:
Church World Service
Gulf Hurricanes Response
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
Contributions may also be made by credit card by calling: (800) 297-1516, or by making a secure gift online .
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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