As the holiday season winds down, Catholic Charities Refugee
Resettlement would like to give a big thank you to those who helped give our
families a taste of the holidays. In November, Gail Kingsley of St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
organized a donation of baskets filled with household items such as kitchen
items and linens for our families. These beautifully made baskets have been
used as welcoming gifts for our new arrivals as a way to make their new
apartments feel more like a home.
In mid-December, we were given three pallets full of boxes
containing jackets, sweatshirts, hats, gloves, socks, and blankets from Zumiez.
This donation enabled us to provide warm clothes for all of our families in
need, from those that have been here for a few months to those we just picked
up at the airport. Everyone is now ready to face the winter.
With the unusually cold weather that started off this season, we are extremely
grateful for this donation.
Also, right before Christmas, we were given a huge donation
of toys and stuffed animals. KPTV FOX 12 Oregon’s Toy Drive donated over twenty
large bags of toys which we were then able to pass out to the children of our
families. The brand new toys have already helped the children fill their time
during the long meetings their parents must attend, and to provide a sense of
normalcy in this stressful time of adjustment.
Molly Burtchaell from All Saints Catholic Parish coordinated the adoption of one of our newest families and arranged the purchase of individual gifts for all of them. This Somali family of twelve received new clothes, a video game system, and all kinds of other gifts from their holiday sponsor. It was a great way for the family to get some of the things they needed, as well as a way for the children to receive new toys.
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| The Enriquez family with the Abdi family |
Finally, a local family who arrived as refugees many years
ago from Cuba adopted two of our current families. These two families,
numbering twenty people total, were asked to make a wish list and the Enriquez
family delivered coats, blankets, toys, and food to the families. One of the
many high points of the day was when the fathers of the two families were each
given the one thing they both wished for: a new suit. The men told Catholic Charities
that they wanted a suit jacket to start the New Year off right, but what they
each got instead was a brand new suit. The Enriquez family brought photos of
their family on the day they arrived in Portland as refugees and were able to
talk to the two families about their shared experiences of being resettled in
Portland.
The staff of Refugee Resettlement would like to extend a
very large thank you to all of these wonderful people for their time and
generous donations. Their kindness meant a lot not only to us, but also to our
clients who are the ones that truly benefit. Thank you all for making this
holiday season a great one.
