In the Spotlight: Maggie Favretti and her Commitment to Refugees
Maggie Favretti at a network picnic hosted by Hearts & Homes for Refugees.
Why Refugees?
“People who are displaced take their culture with them as a life raft.” As a cultural historian, seeking to understand the way in which refugee families carry culture with them and what they leave behind, is just one of the reasons that Maggie Favretti supports refugees.
What are the other motivations? “Like for many, it’s connected to personal stories,” says Maggie. Her Italian grandmother was a prisoner of war in World War I, who came to the U.S., “and was able to thrive.” Maggie’s grandfather had migrated to the U.S. before the war, and earned his citizenship as part of the U.S. armed forces. Her husband’s family was driven from Europe in the nineteenth century as “famine refugees.” Forced displacement is part of her family history, and has helped shape her humanitarian mindset that we must leave the world a better place than we found it.
At the same time, “we are in an existential crisis as human beings. Conflict and climate refugees overlap,” says Maggie. And for her, this means that we must advocate to ensure that policies acknowledge this reality and address it.
Taking Action
During her 22-year tenure as a teacher at Scarsdale High School, Maggie was a firm believer in engaging high school students in learning by doing. In 2016, the school began an exchange program with a humanitarian school in Heidelberg, Germany. Maggie and the other teachers wanted this to be a transformative experience. The goal was for the students to learn about refugees - their families, their cultures, their experiences - both today and in the past. A project was required of the students, and at the end of the first exchange, they proposed to create a Students for Refugees club.
The club is active to this day, and has inspired sister clubs at high schools across Westchester. Maggie was the advisor for the club from 2016 until her retirement from Scarsdale in 2018. A highlight of that experience was being honored by the Sousa Mendes Foundation for her work as a refugee advocate, and hearing from Holocaust survivors about what Students for Refugees means to them.
Hearts & Homes board member Lori Kapner Hosp speaking at Scarsdale High School at the invitation of Students for Refugees.
Making a Commitment
It was during that time, at the start of 2018, that Maggie made her first monthly donation to Hearts & Homes for Refugees. “Part of it was just logistics - it can be hard to remember that it’s time to donate,” Maggie says. But she also decided on monthly giving, “because it was something I really want to commit to - people who are doing the kind of work that Hearts & Homes for Refugees is doing need to have the resources to do it well.”
Both as a donor and as a volunteer, Maggie is a firm believer in the importance of commitment. After leaving Scarsdale High School, Maggie moved to Mystic, CT. “Since moving away - and especially under COVID - it’s the only way I can really show up.” And show up she does.
To join Maggie as a monthly giver, go to www.heartsandhomesforrefugees.org/donate, click any donate button, select your amount and choose “Monthly”. Your commitment will help us build capacity and sustainability as we prepare for an increase in refugees at the same time that we continue to provide support to the new Americans in our midst. The families we work with need you. We are creating the support networks here that they left behind, and empowering them to thrive in their new home.