As some of you know, I had the privilege of volunteering and interning with Catholic Community Services and their refugee resettlement program this past year. As a volunteer mentor, I worked with a family from Burma to learn about American customs, to learn English, and to understand what is available to them in Salt Lake City. As an intern, I worked with CCS case managers to help newly arrived refugees from all over the world apply for social security, learn to ride the bus, become registered in English classes, become orientated to our culture, and many other rewarding activities.
During this time I also worked at the Leonardo museum in SLC before moving out of state. As a last hurrah at the Leo I organized an event we called the Weekend of Welcome, where we gave free tickets for hundreds of refugees to attend the museum, and we highlighted the volunteer opportunities of the many organizations that work with refugees for our visitors.
Although we had planned the event since November, it turned out that we had good timing as the Weekend of Welcome occurred scarcely a week after the conclusion of the LDS General Conference containing several powerful messages about the moral need to reach out and to help refugees. Because of this, we had a lot of interest among visitors in how they could volunteer with refugees. For those of you who did not see this conference, I would recommend watching Patrick Kearon's message here or up above, as well as Linda Burton's message.
The LDS church has also put together a fantastic website with religious messages and practical ideas on how to help refugees. It is called I Was a Stranger.
Throughout my volunteer work, and putting the Weekend of Welcome together, I have learned quite a lot about all the many opportunities to volunteer with refugees in Salt Lake City, and I would like to highlight those opportunities here. For those of you who are not in Salt Lake City, there may be similar volunteer opportunities near you, and if you would like help in searching for them let me know.
Catholic Community Services
Catholic Community Services is one of two organizations that directly resettles refugees in Salt Lake City, although there are many organizations that work with refugees. CCS resettles refugees in part from funds from the U.S. Government, however these funds only cover about a third of the actual expenses of resettlement and services, which lasts up to two years. CCS makes up the rest with donations of basic necessity items, money, and time. There are two ways that you can help out CCS and their refugee resettlement, donations and becoming a volunteer mentor.
CCS accepts money donations which you can do with this link. They also take in-kind donations of furniture, clothing, and other household items. Their sharehouse is located at:
Sharehouse
440 South 400 West #D&E
Salt Lake City, 84101
Mon - Thur 9am to 5pm
Fri 9am to Noon
CCS also receives a lot of assistance from their partnership with Deseret Industries, so make sure to donate items to them as well. The DI also employs many refugees that have been recently resettled, so your donations can help in multiple ways.
Becoming a volunteer mentor is a rewarding experience that I would recommend. Mentors are assigned families when they first arrive in the U.S. (you can even welcome the new families at the airport); thereafter mentors meet with new families weekly and teach them English, American culture, and basic life skills like how to ride the bus, how to do a job interview, what to do when a child is sick, how to shop at a grocery store, etc. With my mentor family, in addition to teaching them English, we also celebrated birthdays, went to the zoo and the Leonardo museum, and I simply checked in on them from time to time.
It is expected that the refugee family will be visited weekly, and possibly daily within the first couple of weeks of arriving in Utah if that's what the family needs. If that is not a commitment that you could make, you could join a group of other mentors and work with the family together, ensuring that the newly arrived people are frequently visited. My dad's LDS ward and stake are currently organizes families in their congregations to become mentors in this way.
If you would like to try the refugee mentor program, then contact Raul Yumul: ryumul@ccsutah.org.
If you are interested in other volunteer opportunities with CCS, including interning with them, contact Janet Healy: jhealy@ccsutah.org
The IRC joins with CCS in directly resettling refugees in Salt Lake City. They also work to resettle refugees in most states in the U.S., and provide assistance for people in refugee camps all throughout the world. I worked with the IRC to distribute tickets for the Leonardo event and they are some great people.
Like CCS, you can directly donate to the IRC, volunteer to work with refugee youth, health, and employment programs, or provide service in many other ways. You can donate with this link. If you are interested in volunteering then send an email to this address: volunteerslc@rescue.org. The volunteer coordinator is currently a VISTA volunteer herself, and her name is Amy Meyer.
Once the IRC and CCS resettle refugees and work with them for up to two years, their cases are transfered to the Asian Association of Utah which provides access to services for another three years. AAU especially provides great youth and afterschool programing for refugee youth. They are looking for volunteers to continue to mentor families, tutor and teach ESL, provide office support, and help run the youth programming.
If you are interested in volunteering then email volunteer@aau-slc.org. Or you can contact the youth coordinator directly, Peter Frost peter.frost@aau-slc.org.
AAU also runs the Sunnyvale Neighborhood Center near a high concentration of refugees. They are looking for volunteers to run ESL, afterschool, and early learning programs. If this sounds interesting to you, then contact Jenny Hart jennyh@aau-slc.org.
The Department of Workforce Services
The Utah Department of Workforce Services assists the IRC, CCS, and AAU in providing services and employment assistance to refugee families. They also organize cultural events, including partnering with the Utah Refugee Center to put on the annual World Refugee Day celebration, which I talk about below.
DWS is currently putting together its own mentorship program, called the Know Your Neighbor Mentor Program. If you would like to volunteer, contact Fatima Dirie at fatima.dirie@slcgov.com. If you would like to volunteer with cultural events contact Michael Pekarske at mpekarske@utah.gov.
The Department of Workforce Services and the Utah Refugee Center put on an awesome event every June in Liberty Park. This year it will occur on June 4th from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and will kick off a whole month of refugee related events. Attendance is free, and the activities will include cultural entertainment and food, and many family centered activities.
Attending is one great way to increase awareness and appreciation for refugees, but if you are also interested in volunteering for the event then contact Madeline at info@utahrefugee.org.
The Utah Refugee Center has also created an app for apple and droid that helps you to find ways to serve refugees. It is called "Serve Refugees".
Other Volunteer Opportunities
There are so many volunteer opportunities in Salt Lake City that it would be too much to highlight them all, but here is a list of others that I have come across, what do and are looking for, and how to contact them. This list is adapted from one published by DWS and Promise South Salt Lake.
Because He First Loved
Us
Contact: Danielle Griffin
Alcala, danielle@bhflu.org
Ph: 801-979-7707
- Mentoring refugees of all ages
- Youth outreach/sports programs: boys basketball and girls tennis
- Transportation
- Women’s outreach
- Men’s outreach
- Fundraising
- Tutoring
Big Brothers and Big
Sisters
Contact: Mia Ristovska,
mia.ristovska@bbbsu.org
Ph: 801-743-1671
- Community-based mentoring youth 6-18 yrs
- School-based mentoring youth 6-15 yrs
- Mentoring 2.0 (mentoring with a technological component) youth
15-18 yrs
- Mentoring newly arrived refugee youth 6-18 yrs
The English Skills
Learning Center (ESLC)
Contact: Jessica Hercules,
j.hercules@elscenter.org
Ph: 801-328-5608
- Tutoring English as a second language (ESL)
- Teaching ESL classes
- Empowering ESL learners
- Preparing for the citizenship exam
Hser Ner Moo Center
Contact: Mark Lowe,
mlowe@southsaltlakecity.com
Ph: 801-466-3238
- Mentor refugee families
- After school tutoring-elementary and teen
Salt Lake City
Contact: Amanda Anderson, amanda.anderson@slcgov.com
Phone: 801-535-6202
- Family mentor
- Board advisor
- Skill share
Utah Health and Human
Rights
Contact: volunteer.uhhr@gmail.com
- Office greeter and receptionist volunteer
- Medical case management volunteer
- Volunteer drivers
- Massage therapy and alternative therapies
- Childcare
- Dental services
- Interpretation/translation volunteer
- English tutoring
Granite Peaks Language Learning Center
Contact: Michelle Dahl, mdahl@graniteschools.org
- Office support
- Help with ESL testing
Promise South Salt Lake
The city of South Salt Lake, which has a high proportion of refugees, has many volunteer opportunities with their school and community programs. Below is contact information for the specific centers:
Contact Kari Cutler about any questions regarding these volunteer opportunities: kcutler@southsaltlakecity.com.
- Roosevelt Elementary School. Caitlin Warbis, 801-828-8219
- Columbus Community Recreation Center, 801-412-3217
- Historic Scott School Arts & Community Center: Trina Valdez 801-803-3632
- Central Park Community Center PAL Boxing Program: Adam Hedin, 801-386-4949
- Woodrow Wilson Elementary Community School, Bonnie Owens 801-386-0589
- Lincoln Elementary Community School, Kelli Meranda, 801-828-8678
- Granite Park Junior High Community School, Alexis Smart 801-440-4499
- Utah International Charter School, Adrienne Buhler, 801-520-7175
- Meadowbrook STEM & Community Center, Joseph Genda, 801-518-550
Hopefully there is something in this list of twenty volunteer opportunities that fits your time schedule, desires, and commitment to serve.
For those of you who are not near Salt Lake City, then I encourage you to search for volunteer opportunities near you. Or you can donate to one of the organizations that I mentioned above.
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