US Together refugee assistance effort gets help from local Jewish, Mennonite communities
Local religious organizations and Stark County residents are helping a Cleveland-based refugee organization by collecting and donating items to help new arrivals get resettled.
Temple Israel in Canton, the Mennonite Central Committee Gift & Thrift store in Hartville and other groups help US Together, a program founded in Cleveland in 2003.
More: Hartville Thrift Shoppe donates $1 million gift to Mennonite ministry
US Together is one of nine national nonprofit refugee resettlement agencies in the country that work directly with the federal government, said Community Engagement Manager Lee Columber II.
Over the past year, the agency has helped 300 to 400 refugees resettle in the Cuyahoga County area. Most of those being helped are Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
"With the Afghanistan crisis, through the phase one of the emergency response, we resettled 165 individuals in the Cleveland area," he said. "And we're anticipating 40 more during phase two."
The agency has primarily served refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo and east Syria.
US Together also has served people from Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, former Soviet Union, Iraq, Somalia, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepali/Bhutanese, Pakistan Rwanda, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, El Syria, Tanzania and Uganda.
Columber said they were helping a few Ukrainians already in the pipeline before war broke out in February. The Biden administration has granted Ukrainian war refugees who arrive in the U.S. "humanitarian parolee" status for up to two years.
"We're still waiting on the Ukrainians to come in," he said.
US Together operates under the auspices of the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, one of the world's oldest refugee resettlement organizations. HIAS was founded in New York in 1881 to help resettle Jews escaping the pogroms, government-sponsored attacks on Jewish communities in Russia and eastern Europe.
Working in partnership with faith-based groups, Columber said, "has been our bread and butter."
US Together's goal:120 Days to self-sufficiency
US Together uses a wraparound approach by helping refugees secure food, housing, clothing, furniture, health screenings, transportation, workforce redevelopment, school registration and secure any government benefit for which they may qualify, Columber said
The goal, he said, is 120 days to self-sufficiency.
The agency also works with Americans in poverty.
"We always want to support as many people as possible," Columber said. "It's not a pick-and-choose. It is building these resources and the capacity to build a community to help out these people who are being persecuted. Many are fleeing their country, not because they want to. They have a distinct fear for their life if they stay where they are."
Columber said he's heartened that the Biden Administration has committed to welcoming 125,000 refugees, plus 100,000 Ukrainians.
"The prior administration only allowed 15,000, and they did even meet that mark" he said.
Columber said most new arrivals are families, "women and children especially."
"Sometimes we see a lot of trauma," he said.
Canton connection to US Together
In Canton, Rita Schaner has spearheaded donations of household items at Temple Israel. Schaner said the Canton Jewish Federation decided to adopt and support US Together in November.
They created a flyer containing a wish list of needed items, and reached out to churches and Muslim community leaders, Schaner said.
Canton's Jewish community helped resettle refugee families from the USSR in 1991.
"This whole process is familiar to the Federation," she said. "We knew we could do it, and that why we reached out to the rest of the community. We felt this was really an opportunity to develop collaboration among the entire Stark County community, not just one silo. Who could have anticipated Ukraine in November, but the fact that the mechanism's in place give us an opportunity to respond."
Dr. E. James Witmer, a retired pediatrician in Louisville, said he reached out the Mennonite Central Committee to make arrangements for storage. Items dropped off at Temple Israel are transported and stored in Hartville before they're dispersed in Cleveland.
"We want to acknowledge the value of the Mennonite community in working with us because without them, we'd never have access to the storage, which is critical," Schaner said. "They have a very sophisticated system."
Witmer said at least one local business, Grove Appliance TV & Mattress in Alliance, has committed to donating bedding as its needed.
Schaner also recruited Jeff Sklar, a Canton business owner and community volunteer who oversees the collection and delivery logistics between Canton and Hartville.
"I'm very happy to help out, but I am a very small part of this project," Sklar said. "I'm fascinated by the depth of this program and am willing to help out Rita or whatever anybody needs."
The Temple Israel Brotherhood is donating 15 homework desks they recently built to US Together.
Helping others in need is not just a "mitzvah," or good deed, it is at the heart of the faith, Temple Israel Rabbi David Komerofsky said.
"Judaism reminds us many times to welcome the stranger since we were strangers in the land of Egypt," he said. "It's at the heart of the Exodus story. Embracing the causes of the vulnerable is at the heart of our mission to leave the world better than we found it."
Columber said US Together is in constant contact with other agencies so it can help as many people as possible.
Columber said he is excited about a new Biden Administration initiative "Community Sponsorship Hubs," which allows individuals and groups to oversee and cosponsor different aspects of the refugees' arrival and resettlement needs. He said he'd like to see groups who will sponsor six months of housing.
"We really want to build that capacity right now," he said. "The humanitarian parolees will be coming in soon."
The new initiative also allows for a wider geographic area to accept refugees, which includes Stark County.
The group stressed that everyone is welcome to help.
"It takes a village," Columber said.
To learn more about the Community Sponsorship Hub program, contact Columber at 216-456-9630 or by email at : lcolumber@ustogether.us or visit https://www.ustogether.us/
To contact Schaner call 330-327-3890.
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Local faith groups offer support to incoming refugees via US Together
