 Portland is home to many new immigrants and refugees. However, unlike official refugees, asylum seekers cannot get jobs until they are granted asylum. A process that can involve significant legal costs. The First Paris Church recently held an event that not only celebrated the cultural diversity of these new residents, but also helped raise money for the legal assistance they need. Erin was there and has this report. I'm here with Christina Solari, the Minister of First Paris Unitarian Church here in Portland on Congress Street. Christina, there are a lot of people here tonight. What is this event for? We are trying to raise awareness and financial funding for our immigrant friends, mostly from Africa, who are seeking political asylum here in America. Wonderful. And I understand tonight's event is not only this wonderful dinner which smells delicious, but there's also entertainment. Yes, we have the famous Burundian drummers who have played all over Portland in the past year. And we have Peter Alexander, who is a folk singer who was a member of our church and he moved up to Bath. So he's going to a Unitarian Universalist Church up there now, but he came down to play. And we also have the Adam Ezra Band, who is a very popular band from Boston. I'm here with Lee Burnett from Springvale. And Lee, what brings you to the First Paris Unitarian Church tonight? I heard these guys are amazing drummers. My wife teaches African students in the adult ed program. And I know a lot of the challenges, difficulties they've had in starting their lives again here. And we just wanted to support them a little bit and hear some great music. Hi, so what's your name? Mom. And what brings you out tonight? I'm here for these drummers that are performing tonight. And Zach Barowitz, what kinds of things did you get to sample from the ethnic food that was provided tonight at the buffet? Well, let's see. There was jerk chicken, mac and cheese, rice and peas, salad, spicy sauce, corn bread. And I'm here with Jane Mackalod. Jane, what brings you out tonight for this event? Well, I volunteer as a pro bono asylum lawyer with the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project. And I'm also a Unitarian Universalist, though from a different church. And when I heard about this event, I wanted to support it absolutely. I'm here with Cheryl Lee. And Cheryl, what brought you here tonight specifically? At the Adam Ezra Group, they do wonderful charitable works throughout New England. I'm speaking here with Adam Ezra. It's your group, the Adam Ezra Group, that's the main feature performer tonight for this event. That's a big draw for a lot of folks in the community I know. What makes the cause here tonight important for you? Over the last year, we've come to hear the stories and meet some of the folks that are asylum seekers here from Burundi. I feel like as a community, we often take for granted the luxuries that we have. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And it is incredibly inspiring to me that a community can come together to support folks from across the globe that they don't even know. And it's something that we are honored to be a part of. I'm here with Ralph Carmona of the Maine Global Institute and also someone who's the member of the First Parish Unitarian Church. Ralph, what brings you out tonight to this event? What brings me out is the whole effort on behalf of the parish, which is on behalf of the whole community to basically reach out to the least of us and try to integrate them into our community. I'm here now with Kitty Coughlin, the chair of Safe Harbor. Kitty, you're really the main person behind this event tonight as far as I understand. What makes Safe Harbor so important for Portland at this time? It's not just a fundraiser. It's also a community awareness building event because last year the media had really just started to wake up as we were to what is asylum and why is it something we need to learn about because we shouldn't judge that people are not employed the minute they get here. They're prohibited from being employed. I am very pleased with the turnout. That's a testimony to how wonderful Portland's area of people are. Thank you again Kitty.