The Board of Human Needs met June 11 to discuss upcoming projects for the year. Sarah from Lutheran Family Services gave a presentation on the refugee and asylee program they sponsor in Greeley. There are so many opportunities for service and LFS is eager to have Saint John’s partner with them. 400 families a year come into the area and receive assistance from LFS. Please see the excerpts from their brochure below.

Refugees are people who have fled their country of origin because of a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group. Asylees are people already in the United States who receive protected status and are unable to return home for the same reasons.

Beyond the loss of their homeland and belongings, many refugees have endured hardships, including arduous journeys, violence, intense discrimination, loss of loved ones and great uncertainty.

Some refugees are able to end the uncertainty, welcomed by the U.S. for resettlement. The U.S. government partners with agencies such as LFS to welcome people who have been granted refugee status.

The LFS Refugee & Asylee Program has been resettling refugees in the Rocky Mountain region since 1978. Since then, LFS has resettled thousands of refugees from countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burma, Congo, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iraq, Russia, Somalia, Ukraine and Vietnam. Lutheran Family Services, “Refugee Volunteering”

Lutheran Family Services provides quality no-cost case management and employment services to refugees and asylees. They then work together with churches and volunteers to provide basic services: cultural mentorship, after-school programs, English as a Second Language classes, job training and support (e.g. apartment setups, school supplies, rent support, bus passes).

School Supply Drive

Lutheran Family Services is holding a summer supply drive for the children in their refugee and asylee program, and the Board of Human Needs would again like to support our Laurel School children. So this year we will be taking a general school supply offering, collecting items from the list, below, and the board will split the donations between LFS and Laurel Elementary. Please place your donations in the School Box by Sunday, July 24!

• New backpacks (no used; no solid red or blue)
• Packs of pencils
• Pens
• Pink erasers
• Markers
• Highlighters
• Colored pencils
• Washable markers
• Crayons
• Watercolors
• Glue sticks
• Wide-ruled paper
• College-ruled paper
• Four-pocket solid color folders
• Four-pocket solid color folders with brads
• Spiral notebooks (college ruled)
• 1" three-ring binders
• Three-ring binder organizer/planner
• Rulers
• Scissors
• Protractors/compasses
• Scientific calculator
• Graphing calculator
• Organizers/planners
• Zippered pencil bags or boxes

Ongoing Opportunities for Service

We are going to continue finding ways to support the efforts of Lutheran Family Services, not only in refugee and asylee work, but also in their adoption and pregnancy counseling, older adult and caregiver, foster care and disaster response ministries. For more information check out www.lfsrm.org.

The Board of Human Needs finds opportunities for the members of Saint John’s to provide a Christian witness by helping people in the community struggling with daily necessities.