All Saints, Atlanta: Farewell to Richard Hall
At the end of June, the refugee resettlement ministry at All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta said goodbye to a trusted advisor and a tireless supporter. Richard Hall – Director of Christian Social Ministries at All Saints – retired after five years in his current position and many more years of service to refugees.
Hall first worked with refugees in the early 1990s when he helped a young Bosnian couple enroll in school and acclimate to their new surroundings after their lives were thrown into chaos by the civil war back home. He has been involved in All Saints impressive refugee co-sponsorship program since 2005.
“To me it’s a very meaningful ministry of our [parish] and certainly the Episcopal Church,” Hall said. “Refugees are very resilient people because they’ve been forced to be in order to survive the trauma and experiences they’ve faced.”
All Saints has made an inspiring commitment to aiding refugees, co-sponsoring 12 different families through Refugee Resettlement & Immigration Services of Atlanta
, an EMM affiliate, over the past nine years. The church also offers tutoring and ESL classes for refugee families and camp scholarships for refugee youth. This spring, All Saints furnished two apartments for Haitian families displaced by January’s earthquake, and the church is currently co-sponsoring a family from Bhutan.
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Wesley Memorial UMC, Wilmington, NC: Welcome to Karen refugees
The Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, is learning about the ups and downs of the refugee experience firsthand. The church agreed to co-sponsor a Karen Burmese family of five who arrived in April. The weeks since have presented challenges -- some frustrating and others amusing -- but church members and refugees are both benefiting from their relationship. From Wesley member Lana Winneberger in an email:
"That same week five of us from Wesley took the ESOL class so that we can begin their English language classes. Our first class was great. Everyone can say their abc's and count up to at least 20. (Refugee father) Lah knows a lot of words, but they all have trouble 'hearing' us speak it, as well as say it. They are very eager to learn."
Wesley UMC is the first church to co-sponsor a family through
Interfaith Refugee Ministry's Wilmington sub-office -- EMM's newest resettlement site -- which began resettling refugees earlier this year.