wfn.org | Church World Service is providing comprehensive,

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

IN A NEW, 10-STATE PROGRAM, CHURCH WORLD SERVICE IS HELPING DISPLACED 
HURRICANE SURVIVORS BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THEIR NEW COMMUNITIES

New York City, Sept. 30, 2005 - The humanitarian agency Church World 
Service (CWS) is providing comprehensive, individualized services to U.S. 
Gulf hurricane evacuees who have been displaced to 10 states, helping them 
become self-sufficient in their new communities - whether their stay 
ultimately is short or long.

Church World Service - the only voluntary agency helping Gulf hurricane 
survivors that has both an in-house domestic emergency response unit and a 
refugee resettlement program - is applying its professional refugee case 
management experience to help meet the particular needs of Americans 
displaced by the Gulf hurricanes.

CWS polled its 42 local affiliate refugee resettlement agencies to 
ascertain whether they anticipated serving evacuees, and if so, how many, 
and to offer CWS's support and coordination.  Eight affiliates and the CWS 
field office in Miami, Florida, returned project proposals and will provide 
an agreed-upon portfolio of services to evacuees, depending on an 
assessment of each person's needs.

This privately funded program, says Erol Kekic, Acting Director of the CWS 
Immigration and Refugee Program, "is intended to assist uprooted people 
currently living in temporary arrangements and, often, under tenuous 
conditions, recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency in 
communities to which they have found their way or have been relocated."

Giving priority to people most in need, the program is helping hurricane 
evacuees sort out the myriad disaster relief programs; find jobs, health 
care, and affordable housing; get their children enrolled in school, and 
get oriented to and integrated into their new communities.

"The people we serve are not and will not be left to fend for themselves," 
Kekic said.  "We are committed to serving people professionally and in a 
uniform, not ad hoc, way.  Moreover, we will be seeking evacuees' input 
along the way and making adjustments according to what they need from the 
program."

Services are being provided through CWS's established network of local 
agencies normally serving refugees resettled from around the world. Every 
year, Church World Service serves tens of thousands of refugees, 
immigrants, and asylum seekers with case processing, resettlement, 
chaplaincy, legal, and other services.	Over the past 60 years, CWS has 
helped nearly 450,000 refugees - people who have fled persecution in their 
home countries to seek safety in other countries - begin new lives in the 
United States.	Another 5,000 or so resettle in the U.S. under CWS auspices 
each year.

Following Hurricane Katrina, as survivors began to move - and be moved - to 
various sites across the United States, CWS quickly became convinced that 
the refugee resettlement model could be adapted to meet the needs of Gulf 
Coast residents displaced within the United States.

 "CWS and its affiliates are adept at leveraging a wide range of 
community-based resources to welcome refugees and help them become 
self-sufficient," Kekic said.  "It's not a big leap for us to be able to 
adjust those resources to fit the needs of people in our own country who 
have also lost everything and are starting over in new places.

"We'll help these newcomers connect into the rich fabric of social 
contacts, engaging local church and secular partners in facilitating their 
integration through the gift of personal attention, friendship, and 
time.  Our network feels privileged to be able to lend a hand in responding 
to Gulf hurricane survivors' needs and give something back to communities 
that have supported refugee resettlement for so long."

National church bodies that support the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program 
stepped forward with special funding for the new program of assistance to 
hurricane evacuees, and additional money is being raised as part of public 
appeals for funds to support a broad CWS program of assistance to Gulf 
hurricane survivors.  CWS/IRP participating denominations are: American 
Baptist Churches in the USA, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 
Christian Reformed Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in 
America, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church.

Along with the CWS Miami Office, the following eight CWS affiliates each 
are providing services in several communities in their respective states:

*	GEORGIA: Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta,
based 
in Atlanta.
*	ILLINOIS: Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, based in
Chicago.
*	KENTUCKY: Kentucky Refugee Ministries, with offices in Louisville and

Lexington.
*	MICHIGAN: Programs Assisting Refugee Acculturation/Bethany Christian 
Services, based in Grand Rapids.
*	NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA: Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas,
with 
offices in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Hickory, N.C., and in Columbia, S.C.
*	TENNESSEE: Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, with offices in 
Knoxville and Bristol.
*	TEXAS: Refugee Services of Texas, with offices in Dallas, Austin and
Fort 
Worth; an Amarillo office will open in October.
*	VIRGINIA: Virginia Council of Churches, with offices in Richmond and 
Harrisonburg.

CWS is enlisting and training local congregations and other volunteers on 
ways they can provide moral and material support to evacuees, moving them 
beyond the "offer of an extra bedroom."  CWS will not be placing evacuees 
with host families, but rather will help evacuees find their own affordable 
transitional housing, working on the local level with such partners as FEMA 
and HUD.

The CWS case management program "is strictly voluntary on the part of the 
beneficiaries," Kekic said.  Gulf hurricane evacuees will be free to "opt 
into or out of" the program.  Potential participants will get full 
information about the program, and individual needs will be 
assessed.  Clients' confidentiality will be respected.

Church World Service is an ecumenical emergency response, development, and 
refugee assistance agency, working in more than 80 countries, including the 
United States.	In addition to case management services for Gulf hurricane 
evacuees, CWS also is providing emergency assistance to areas affected by 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  To date, CWS has shipped more than $1,000,000 
in donated material assistance, including CWS Blankets and "Gift of the 
Heart" Health, Children's, School, and Clean-Up Kits. CWS also partnered 
with UNICEF to distribute school and recreation materials in Meridian, 
Miss.  Church World Service is also supporting trauma care through its 
Interfaith Trauma Response Trainings (ITRT) for Gulf hurricane caregivers 
and direct trauma care through its Spiritual and Emotional Care Response 
(SECR) cadre of volunteer professional counselors.

**EDITORS, PRODUCERS, PLEASE INCLUDE CWS IN YOUR LISTINGS OF AGENCIES 
ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR GULF HURRICANE SURVIVORS:

Contributions to support these efforts may be sent to: Church World 
Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515, or call 800 297 1516 ext. 
222.   For more information, see: www.churchworldservice.org
						###

Media Contacts: Ann Walle/CWS, (212) 870-2654, awalle@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net