World Refugee Day Stakeholders Meeting
“Don’t underestimate the power you all have to lift the torch on the joys and challenges, and inspire others to this work. The grassroots movement is shifting the paradigm of refugee resettlement in this country.”
On June 20, Hearts & Homes for Refugees hosted a gathering of the leaders of Community Sponsorship groups in the region to celebrate World Refugee Day. Kathie O’Callaghan, Hearts & Homes’ Founder, shared the following remarks.
“This has been a weekend of celebrations: World Refugee Day, Father’s Day, and Juneteenth. June 19 is an important date in our country’s history. Our future as a country depends on continuing the work of equity and inclusion. So today we acknowledge the strength of the Black community, and we also acknowledge the responsibility we have as volunteers and neighbors to strive to make the world a more inclusive and equitable place for all of our neighbors. Looking around this room and on zoom, I see welcomers from all over, including from 16 different community sponsorship groups, and from different places of membership who have made a commitment to this welcome work. We are united in our desire to welcome refugees, to embrace newcomers, one family at a time. And today, we are united in the global recognition of refugees across the globe.
This work is volunteer-driven. No one is climbing a corporate ladder. This is on-the-job learning on how to help refugees build new lives. The work we do influences how families will succeed – how the children experience life in America and what the futures of these families and individuals look like. We are all problem solvers and master logistical coordinators, weathering the highs and lows, the zigs and zags that come with this commitment. We have all experienced the joy of the welcome and many memorable moments.
You are part of a new and growing generation of volunteers and nonprofit grassroots organizations that are cropping up all over the country to join in various new models of refugee welcoming, as well as mass mobilization efforts that are underway with the recognition that public-private partnerships have an impact on durable local solutions in the refugee resettlement space. The results are more welcomers and stronger communities that are willing and able to embrace more newcomers in responsible and holistic ways. Our communities, the country, and the world are better off because of each of you.
You are changing the landscape in our area and have given life and light to welcoming refugees. Your contributions and the commitments you make stand as an example to others. Don’t underestimate the power you all have to lift the torch on the joys and challenges, and inspire others to this work. The grassroots movement is shifting the paradigm of refugee resettlement in this country. There will be more resources, and at the national level, offerings of encouragement and new and improved ways to partner and improve resettlement to ensure better long term outcomes for our new neighbors. 170 refugees resettled through full Community Sponsorship is a start. Tonight, we look to the future.”
—Kathie O’Callaghan, Founder & President
A special thanks to the Carvel Foundation for their support of this gathering, to Greyston Bakery for their donation of delicious brownies, and to the Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation in White Plains for the use of their building.