North Carolina Nonprofit Making a Difference in the Lives of Refugees

According to RSS Executive Director, Rachel Humphries, the NobleCause grant has already allowed her nonprofit to hire a volunteer coordinator, Theresa Matheny. The volunteer onboarding process is now much faster for RSS, and training events are taking place monthly. Matheny has already developed a one-hour training course called Refugee 101, which educates the public about refugees, who they are, how they become refugees, and how they got to the U.S. The training also highlights the struggles they face once they get to the U.S.

RSS’s most valuable program, Fruitful Friendships, will also start training bimonthly to recruit more volunteers. Fruitful Friendships is, according to Humphries, “A family-to-family or individual-to-individual mentoring program that helps refugees navigate our culture.” This program was so named because the mentors are asked to bring fruit for the people they meet. Such a simple gesture, and yet it starts a conversation, even for people who don’t speak the language or have much in common in terms of culture. “Start with something as basic as fruit, and you can build a connection,” Humphries explains.

The Refugee Support Services Help Center is open to refugees in the area to assist them with nearly every facet of American life possible. “We are a bit like Ancient Scribes,” Humphries shares. “We have 16 volunteers who are present whenever the center is open. People bring in a stack of mail, we help them read it. They have questions about school, we help them communicate with teachers.” Such simple things to an established American who has lived in the culture their entire lives, but something that is overwhelming at best for someone who doesn’t speak or understand the language.

RSS also gets plenty of questions about green cards or citizenship, and they help these families and individuals fill out the necessary applications. There is also an education aspect: RSS partners with the public library which offers a literacy hour, a story hour for children, and parent/children literacy workshops. Central Piedmont Community College provides English as a Second Language (ESL) and citizenship classes to help the refugees learn the language and become citizens. They also have a monthly visit from the local police or fire departments to help refugees acclimate and engage with authority figures. Approximately 42 million people become refugees due to persecution or conflict, many of whom have not had positive interactions with authority. This meeting of local fire and police departments help to eliminate fear and misunderstanding.

RSS also provides a sense of community, and aims to include their Help Center patrons in a variety of ways to help them acclimate to the culture here. Something as simple as a “Women’s Tea,” which RSS does quarterly, can help refugee women discuss their concerns, struggles, and cultural differences in a safe setting. The last Women’s Tea focused on “What’s in Your Purse?” and shared with refugee women why American women carry bags, what’s in there, and why they should carry (or not carry) certain items. Other topics have been raised, including women’s issues, from childbirth to feminine hygiene to domestic violence. As one woman said during a recent Tea, “This is very important!”

Most astounding is the amount of food RSS provides in their Help Center. RSS partners with The Society of St. Andrews, which runs a “gleaning” project with local farms and markets. The society “gleans” vegetables and fruits from willing participants – to the tune of 1,000 lbs of fresh vegetables and fruit every week! There is also a tilapia farm that gives the Help Center 1,200 lbs of fresh tilapia once a month. This is no small feat, especially for a nonprofit with such a small volunteer base. But, as Humphries explains, that’s all changing.