FCC and KRM assist Afghan Refugees in Louisville

by Rick Tipton

The mission of Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) is to resettle refugees as vetted by the US State Department and transported to Louisville, Kentucky. KRM provides them with housing, meets their airport arrival, schedules medical appointments and social security appointments. Additionally, KRM arranges medical insurance, registers the children in JCPS schools, and finds jobs for the adult members after 90-days from their arrival in the USA. In addition to that, KRM provides co-sponsorship for the refugee families which helps in the integration of the families into their new community.

KRM has been very successful in resettling refugees in the past. Moving on from initial jobs, a number have later founded restaurants and other businesses in Louisville.

First Christian Church (FCC) has had a long relationship with KRM, including years of donations, previous Wholeness grants, and at least one FCC member working there. Many of our members are familiar with our annual coat drive each fall/winter. Now KRM has begun receiving many Afghan refugees, families who were associated with US military and civilian organizations recently pulled out of Afghanistan and who were severely endangered by Taliban and ISIS reprisals. FCC’s $5000 Wholeness Ministries grant is being used to help these families in the first three months of their arrivals. Funds will be used to provide food, clothing, and rental assistance for these families.

Volunteer Opportunities Besides these requested funds, KRM would like to have a team of three or more volunteers to do apartment set up for new families arriving to Louisville. Another option is grocery shopping for the family. And another activity to consider is remotely teaching a refugee English-As-A-Second Language (ESL); this helps the refugee to learn the language and establish many friends with community members.

The wholeness grant used to fund this ministry was made possible through your faithful financial support of our church and its ministries and help fund a variety of efforts to make our world a better place.

You can find more examples of those efforts or apply for a grant to make the world a better place by clicking here.