PHOENIX– On a sunny Saturday morning in southwest Phoenix, around 20 people gathered in a small living room to greet new tenants who had traveled thousands of miles to be there.
The volunteers brought tables, lamps, kitchen appliances and TVs for a group of refugees from all over the world.
“We want to say to you, welcome to America,” Mike Sullivan said, as colleague Claudine Postik translated his words to Arabic for the Syrian homeowners.
Sullivan is the agency director for the Welcome To America Project. This non-profit organization provides household essentials such as tables, clothing, computers and bikes to the recently resettled refugees in Arizona. Claudine Postik, an interior designer who speaks five languages, is one of many volunteers who have been on board with the group for years.
The organization, which was founded in 2001, operates a warehouse located in Tempe to sort donation items that serve the refugee communities.
In 2022, 100 million people are estimated to have been forcibly displaced from their homes around the world, including people displaced from the war in Ukraine and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
As of June 2022, an estimated 15,100 refugees were admitted to the U.S., according to the U.N. Refugee Agency’s report.
Every Saturday, the project organizes “Saturday welcomes” events to distribute furniture and household items to newly arrived refugees’ family homes. The staff visits the household in advance of the distribution day in order to learn about which supplies the family needs.
In one of the house visits in September, the group visited three families, who recently resettled here in August from Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan.
“I was amazed by all the volunteers who are eager to help other people; I was amazed by the positive reactions and the happiness of the [refugees] families when we brought the items to the households,” Postik said.
“The kids’ faces lit up when they unboxed the packages, like when they opened Christmas gifts.”
In 2021, the Welcome to America Project served 1,660 individuals and 403 families from 26 countries. The group provided 369 bikes and 145 computers for them, according to its statistics.
Arizona ranks the fifth refugee recipient state across the U.S. There are 4,331 refugees in Arizona in 2022, with more than half of them from Afghanistan, according to the state’s refugee arrivals report.
“I think most people from Phoenix will be surprised to realize how many refugees had been resettled in Arizona, and what kind of thriving and interesting communities they have,” said Dr. Pamela DeLargy, an ASU professor who was the senior advisor to the U.N. Special Representative for Migration.
During the group’s Saturday welcome events, Sullivan leads a series of icebreakers to help the refugees’ families feel welcomed in the local community.
“You don’t have to leave your culture behind when you come here, by bringing your culture to us, you make our communities better. We are glad that you are safe here.” Sullivan said.
Overcoming extreme circumstances, coming to the U.S with shattered dreams and a faint sense of the past there, refugees built new lives in Arizona, which they now call their home, with support from local organizations and the government.
The Refugee Act of 1980 established a program to assist refugees with economic self-sufficiency after their arrival in the U.S. On the state level, the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program partners with resettlement agencies, four in Maricopa County and four in Pima County, to serve as refugees’ first point of contact and primary service provider.
Much more than garnering physical items, the refugee advocacy group aims to “turn fears into hope” by embracing diversity and multi-culturality in the Phoenix community, Sullivan said.
“The only difference between a refugee and me is the circumstance,” said Alenga Alokola, a Thunderbird graduate student and a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who once volunteered with the project, echoing Sullivan’s words.
Contact the reporter at bthai5@asu.edu.
