wfn.org | CWS Plans World Refugee Day Events, Offers Churches Resources

["CWS News" <awalle@churchworldservice.org>]

For Immediate Release

CWS Plans World Refugee Day Events, Offers Churches Resources
Among Events: Durham, N.C.; Louisville, Ky.; Chicago, Ill.; New York City;
Washington, D.C.

May 10, 2005, NEW YORK CITY - World Refugee Day is June 20, and congregations
and communities across the United States and around the world are planning
events throughout June to recognize the plight, and celebrate the
contributions, of refugees.

For observances of World Refugee Day, Church World Service (CWS) is offering
two church bulletin inserts.  CWS, member denominations, and refugee
resettlement affiliates also are planning or joining World Refugee Day events
nationwide.  A sampling of these events follows, from Durham, N.C.;
Louisville, Ky.; Chicago, Ill.; New York City, and Washington, D.C.

The United Nations General Assembly designated June 20 as World Refugee Day. 
2005 marks the observance's fifth anniversary.

The first CWS resource for World Refugee Day includes a call to worship,
invocation, relevant Scripture references, and a benediction.  The second
offers a reflection for World Refugee Day, refugee facts and a word about how
the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program, its member denominations,
resettlement affiliates, and congregations are providing help and homes to
refugees.  

Each insert features a color photo of a refugee family.  Both are available
free in both Word and PDF formats at www.churchworldservice.org/Immigration
and may be printed out and photocopied in either black and white or in color.

CWS, resettlement affiliates plan World Refugee Day events

Among World Refugee Day celebrations being planned by CWS and its
resettlement affiliates is a June 18 festival in Durham, N.C., near Duke
University.  Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas, Inc., a joint
CWS-Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) affiliate, is sponsoring
this event, to feature live multicultural music, informational booths,
refugee crafts, and international finger foods.  Contact Sarah Ivory
(sarah.ivory@lfscarolinas.org) for details.

VISTA volunteers at the CWS resettlement affiliate in Louisville, Ky., are
organizing a June 18 mock refugee camp.  Kentucky Refugee Ministries
Executive Director Carol Young said a letter to churches inviting middle and
high school youth drew 125 registrations in the first week.  June 19,
Kentucky churches will take loose change offerings for KRM, which is a joint
CWS-Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) affiliate, and on June 20, staff
from KRM and other resettlement agencies will hold a cookout to honor
recently arrived refugees.  Contact Carol Young (cyoung@kyrm.org) for
details.

In Chicago, Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Ministries, a joint CWS/EMM/LIRS
affiliate, is planning a June 18 party and culture fest for resettled
refugees, cosponsored by the city chapter of the United Nations Association
of the United States.  IRIM also is inviting the business, legal, and
academic community to a June 20 event with music, dance, and speakers on
refugee issues.  "It is envisioned as a time of celebration and advocacy,"
said IRIM Executive Director Gregory Wangerin (gwangerin@irim.org). 

The CWS Immigration and Refugee Program, headquartered in New York City, is
joining with other faith-based and human rights organizations to hold a June
11 "NY (Heart) Refugees" event in New York, celebrating World Refugee Day by
honoring refugees and others who have helped improve the lives of refugees
and asylum seekers.  

Participating organizations will recognize such volunteers as refugees who
have helped other refugees, donors of funds and household items, pro bono
attorneys, interpreters, visitors to detained asylum seekers, and so forth. 
Several awardees will address the gathering, an indoor/outdoor brunch/lunch
in Manhattan.  There will be music and information tables.  Contact Will
Coley (Wcoley@afsc.org) or Carol Fouke (cfouke@churchworldservice.org) for
details.

June 22 in Washington, D.C., Church World Service will host a World Refugee
Day worship service, to begin at 12:10 p.m. in the chapel of the United
Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Ave. N.E.  Contact Joan Maruskin
(jmaruskin@churchworldservice.org). 

Church World Service also will participate in June 15-20 World Refugee Day
events in Washington, D.C., organized by the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees.  Schedule details and more on the 2005 theme, "Courage," will
be posted at www.usaforunhcr.org.  

12 million refugees - and how CWS is helping

Refugees are persons who, "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted
for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social
group, or political opinion," have fled their home country and are unable or,
"owing to such fear," unwilling to avail themselves of that country's
protection.

There are nearly 12 million refugees in the world today, according to the
U.S. Committee for Refugees.  Some eventually are able to return home if
conditions improve.  Some manage to integrate into communities in their
country of first asylum.  Many get stuck in camps for a protracted period -
years, decades, even several generations.

Each year, in an important humanitarian rescue program, the U.S. State
Department and Department of Homeland Security approve several thousand
refugees for resettlement in the United States - 52,826 in calendar year
2004.  In Africa, CWS offices in Accra, Ghana, and Nairobi, Kenya, assist in
processing the cases of African refugees - 23,000 in 2004.

The U.S. government contracts with 10 agencies, including Church World
Service, to help these refugees start their new lives in the United States. 
Each year, CWS resettles about 5,000 refugees, with congregations and
affiliate resettlement offices providing services locally.  Since it was
founded in 1946, CWS has helped 400,000 refugees resettle in the United
States.

Through its Emergency Response Program, CWS provides assistance to new
refugees, and through its Durable Solutions for the Displaced program, help
meet the needs of people in protracted refugee situations and of refugees
returning home.  The CWS Social and Economic Development Program empowers
long-term, community-based solutions to hunger and poverty worldwide.

-end-

Media contact: Ann Walle, awalle@churchworldservice.org; 212-870-2654