wfn.org | CWS Helps Kosovar Refugees to TX, NY, IL

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2252
E-mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE HELPS REFUGEES FROM KOSOVO
ARRIVING MAY 15 TO NEW HOMES IN AUSTIN, BROOKLYN, CHICAGO,
HOUSTON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 14, 1999, NEW YORK -- Arriving at last at a place they
can call home after fleeing the terror in their homeland, the
first Kosovar refugees sponsored by Church World Service are
scheduled to arrive in the United States on Saturday, May 15.

After flying from Skopje, Macedonia, the twenty refugees
from four families will join relatives already living in the
United States.  Arrangements for their arrival are being made
through Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program
affiliates in Austin, TX; Brooklyn, NY; Chicago, IL; and Houston,
TX.

"I've been impressed with the great outpouring of concern
for these refugees that has come from the church community," said
William Sage, Interim Director of the Church World Service
Immigration and Refugee Program which is overseeing their
arrival.  "Our local affiliates are hard at work getting ready
for their arrival.  The refugees are coming from a long and
painful journey, but our local offices will make sure they have
new homes ready for them here."

In contrast to the refugees from Kosovo at Ft. Dix, N.J.,
who have no relatives here, each of the refugees arriving on
Saturday has family members already here to help them begin new
lives so the refugees will go directly to their new homes.
Church World Service is planning to help with several hundred
refugees from Kosovo with family members here as well as with
refugees from Kosovo who arrive without relatives.

 Besides working to find new homes for the Kosovars who are
arriving here, CWS is also hard at work assisting the hundreds of
thousands of refugees who remain in the Balkans.  To date, CWS
has provided $1.8 million in humanitarian assistance there.

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Media Contacts:
Austin, Texas: Austin Metropolitan Ministries Refugee Services,
512-472-7627
Brooklyn, N.Y.: Interfaith Community Services, 212-265-1826
Chicago, Ill.: Interchurch Refugee and Immigration Ministries,
773-989-5647
Houston, Texas: Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, 713-
522-3955 x230
In New York: NCC News, 212-870-2227
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