The New Kid

Greetings to all Catholic Charities of Oregon Refugee Resettlement Volunteers and Friends!

My name is Emily and I am the new Jesuit Volunteer at the Catholic Charities of Oregon Refugee Resettlement Program. I was born and raised in Dallas, TX and attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, AL. In high school and college, I was able to take advantage of many service opportunities including two trips to Central America, two summers spent in Poland teaching English and a semester abroad learning and doing service work in Northern Italy.

Emily Reznicek,
the 2013-2014 Jesuit Volunteer

It was during my semester in Bologna, Italy that I first worked with refugees and asylees at a house for men on the outskirts of the city. Much of my time there was spent talking to the staff about the services in Bologna, and talking to the men about their lives at home, en route to Italy and in Italy. It was this experience that led me to Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest to work with refugees again.

During my first year in JVC NW, I served in Boise, ID at Catholic Charities of Idaho’s Family Strengthening Center. There, I worked with refugees whose resettlement period was at an end, but still needed some assistance in adjusting to life in America. Many of my clients’ needs were very basic and included anything from help with paying rent or utilities to filling out food stamp re-certification paperwork. I also taught an English Language Learning class to adults two days a week where we worked on basic things like colors and seasons, as well as civics and citizenship prep. My time in Boise made me want to learn even more about refugees, which was a major part of my decision to come to Catholic Charities of Oregon as a second year Jesuit Volunteer.

This year, I will be assisting case managers in taking their clients to appointments; helping children enroll in and get acclimated to school in their new country; and talking to wonderful volunteers like you about the service opportunities available through Catholic Charities of Oregon Refugee Resettlement. In the little bit of time since I have started working here, we have already come up with some new volunteering ideas and will soon be reaching out to meet some dedicated volunteers to get these programs off the ground.

I’ve now been living in Portland for a little over a week and am excited to be here and to continue the learning process that I started a year ago in Boise. I look forward to meeting the volunteers that help Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement to better assist the newly arrived refugees. I have a feeling that it is going to be a good year and that you volunteers will help make that so.

If you have any questions for me about Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement, volunteer opportunities or Jesuit Volunteer Corps NW please do not hesitate to call me at (503) 688-2684, or email me at ereznicek@catholiccharitiesoregon.org.