Faith Place for Refugees

First of all, thank you to all who have stepped forward with supplies for Faith Place, including furniture, utensils, bedding, towels, toys, groceries, and even cold, hard cash. Our weekday 12pm group collected money to donate to the family, as did we on Sunday morning, with Change for Change. There has, however, been some news.

First of all, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW) is using Faith Place as a temporary location to house large families while they search for permanent homes closer to an established community with a more comfortable cultural experience. This means that the family of 8 that is currently living at Faith Place will be leaving, and a family of 10 will use the space until LSS-SW can find a home large enough for them. This is a little heartbreaking because wow it is easy to fall in love with strangers. The wonderful thing about this though is that we get to share this ENORMOUS parsonage with so many who are in need. What a dream!

Secondly, because of the speed with which we went through the process, there were a few items lost in translation, namely how we should be interacting with our new tenants.

LSS-SW offers two types of relationships with the refugees they sponsor. The first is a co-sponsorship program where we, as a community, would go through training and background checks, which would allow us to have personal relationships with those who live here. The second is a landlord/tenant relationship, which is what we selected. This means that we are not to have contact with them unless they initiate, and all that we do is what a landlord would normally do, such as handling repairs and the like.

I know it’s hard to hear that because these wonderful humans have been through so much, and we want to do what God calls us to do: Love our Neighbor. The reason that LSS-SW has asked us to take a giant leap backwards is because refugees are considered a vulnerable population, so their privacy and personal needs must be handled delicately.

The best way for us to follow through on loving these neighbors is to make donations to LSS-SW specifically for the Afghani Refugees. If you would like to make an additional monetary contribution to LSS-SW to offer continued support for their efforts, please indicate that on your giving envelope or the memo line of your check, and Faith Lutheran Church will make the donation on your behalf!

If you have any questions or concerns about this news, please feel free to contact me here at the office 602-265-3394 or info@faithalive.com. You may also discuss with Pastor Sarah Upham-Birdsall during office hours!