World Relief - helping refugee families in Idaho's Treasure Valley

Each year, World Relief-Treasure Valley receives and assists about 200 refugees out of the international pipeline each year, meeting them at the Boise airport with a warm smile, offering confident reassurance, and answering hundreds of questions about this new land. We literally take them under our protective wing until they can learn enough about our language and culture to become productive, self-sufficient members of our community. Federal cash assistance for refugees, well below the poverty level, lasts a maximum of eight months. It is enough to support temporary housing, purchase basic necessities, and provide a nominal start, but it is soon expended. Early employment leading to self-sufficiency has always been a primary goal of the national refugee resettlement program. However, our struggling local and national economies affected refugees first because entry-level first jobs quickly became very scarce. Their progress toward self-sufficiency slowed drastically. Many families now face the prospect of becoming homeless again, in their new country. Still, the renewed hope, protection, and freedoms experienced in the United States make this a much better place for refugee families. They are eager to learn, integrate, and add to the strong multi-cultural fabric of our city and our nation.




Concerned community partners, donors, and volunteers work tirelessly to help meet crisis needs within the refugee communities in Boise. In this process, friendships are formed, barriers are removed, and we all benefit as we recognize our mutual strengths and goals: safety, sustenance, protection, education, opportunities, freedom, and a voice.

For more information on World Relief Boise and to see how you can help go to http://worldrelief.org/Page.aspx?pid=1714

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Refugees
• World Relief
• Boise
• Idaho