WALKING OUR PRAYERS: CARING FOR & CELEBRATING OUR NEW AFGHAN COMMUNITY

We are excited to begin our journey collaborating with the Refugee Care Collective, a local Portland organization that lovingly, effectively, and powerfully supports refugee families in rebuilding their lives. We are in a deep bow toward the courageous and beloved families that are beginning their new lives in Oregon. It is our joy to be part of making their homecoming be one of support and unconditional love.

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We will be supporting our new neighbors in a myriad of ways over the coming year.

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“Refugees arrive to Oregon with few possessions, and have to quickly build their lives again. Restart kits are plastic tubs filled with essential household items. A complete set is formed by eight unique restart kits, one for each area of the home. The kits are distributed to local resettlement agencies, service providers, and community members who give them directly to newly arrived families and those in need. With each restart kit that’s put together, we’re reminded that it’s small actions that change realities. While kits meet a practical need, they do much more. They symbolize hope and communicate the message of welcome better than anything else can. It’s a first step in saying, ‘You are not alone. We are for you. You are welcome here.’ ” -Refugee Care Collective

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HERE IS AN UPDATE ON HOW YOU HAVE HELPED:

• RESTART KITS: During the months of September, October, and November 2021, the NTCSL community and greater LO community donated 60 complete Restart Kits to the Refugee Care Collective warehouse in Tigard. Thank you all for your gracious donations!

• GIFT CARDS: With your generous donations of gift cards, we collected over $1400 in gift cards from Fred Meyer, Target, IKEA, and Winco. Some of these gift cards were used to purchase additional items to complete the Restart Kits and gift cards remaining were donated to the Refugee Care Collective who will give to the families.

• DONATE $$$:  In addition to all the donations above, our NTCSL greater community donated over $2400 in dollars, and a check for this amount was sent to the Refugee Care Collective.

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FOR OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO JOIN US FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY:

We LOVE that we have NTCSL community members around the country and world! We have assembled below a list of trusted and loving organizations that are operating in the United States. If you would like to join us in this community wide heart work of serving refugee families in rebuilding their lives, please feel free to explore these organizations:

• Oregon (outside of Portland): Refugee Care Collective-  https://refugeecarecollective.org

• Colorado: Lutheran Family Services, Rocky Mountains-  https://www.lfsrm.org  and International Rescue Committee Denver- https://www.rescue.org/united-states/denver-co

• Southern California: International Rescue Committee, Los Angeles- https://www.rescue.org/announcement/how-help-our-afghan-neighbors-los-angeles

• Northern California: Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley https://www.jfssv.org/refugee-support.html

• Idaho: International Rescue Committee, Idaho- https://www.rescue.org/united-states/boise-id

• Arizona: Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest- https://www.lss-sw.org

• Nevada: Northern Nevada International Center- https://www.unr.edu/nnic/resettlement

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If you join us internationally (thank you, we love you) and we invite you to seek out organizations in your community that are doing this work. A good place to start is the International Rescue Committee in your country.

We love the heart of our New Thought Center Spiritual Living community. Each of you radiate love and goodness into the world. We are looking forward to pouring our love into our work with the Refugee Care Collective and many others that are walking their faith. We hope that you will join us in this sacred work!

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS DONATIONS. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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