Dear friends,

I hope you are all enjoying the snow while staying safe and warm. Since it doesn’t look like the temperatures are going to rise enough to melt and dry up the snow, I have decided that this Sunday will be online only. I can’t get out of my driveway, and even if I could I probably couldn’t get out of our hilly neighborhood. There’s no use in any of us taking risks. So we’ll have an abbreviated service at 10 a.m. Sunday, done with me and my iPhone. One of the positive gifts of the pandemic is the ability to gather online when we can’t be together in person.

The bulletin for Sunday is here:

I have some exciting news to pass along. We know who our refugee family is and when they are arriving. I’ll let our outreach chair Suzanne Johnson take it from here:

Our Refugee Family Is Arriving Thursday!!

We just got the exciting news from Iman at the IRC that she has found the “perfect match” for us—a French-speaking family of five from Cameroon—a 25 year old mother, her two sons (ages 5 and 7) and her twin six-year-old nieces. They will arrive at the airport on Thursday afternoon.

Then she asked if we would also consider including their extended family, also arriving on Thursday—the 62-year-old grandfather, three aunts and uncles in their 20s, and a 13 year old “uncle”. Especially after hearing how desperately the IRC is working to get refugees safely here before January 20th and that our commitment to the extended family would be more limited with the IRC helping fill gaps, I said we could sponsor the whole family and vouched for us: “We are a very generous parish and especially in these times, this seems like an important way of living out our faith.” The extended family will be living in a nearby but separate home. 

Cameroon in west/central Africa is experiencing a lot of internal political and ethnic violence. It is very sobering to consider what stories lie behind this young single mother bringing her own sons and her nieces to safety; I’m glad she will have other family with her, and that the 13-year-old “uncle” will have other kids to be around as well. As I’ve learned that the extended family is especially important in Cameroonian culture, I am glad we said yes. I know the hearts of St. Dunstan are big enough to welcome all ten members of this family.

Here is a link to basic information about Cameroon.  https://togetherwomenrise.org/customsandcuisine/customs-cuisine-of-cameroon/

How Can You Continue to Help?

More bed and bath linens needed.

You have been so generous with your donations. We have lots of dishes and cookware and a lot of extra furniture to share with the extended family (although if you have more furniture to donate please let me know—we especially need a kitchen table big enough for five). We still especially need towels and washcloths, sheets (full and especially twin), pillows, blankets, comforters, mattress covers. These need not be new—clean items in good condition are fine. Bring these Sunday if possible.

Used winter clothes needed. The family is arriving from a warm country. When they arrive at the airport, they likely will have no winter clothes. We hope to take coats, sweaters, hats, scarves, gloves, vests, and warm socks to the airport when we greet them on Thursday. Since we don’t know the sizes, it is best if these are used clothes rather than our buying new items. We just want to get them as warm as possible on an emergency basis to start with. Bring these Sunday if possible.

Volunteers needed to load and deliver the shower items to the refugees’ new homes. We don’t yet know when the IRC will find the housing so we need volunteers to be on standby to load and transport the shower items, likely to the Clarkston area. SUVs and trunks of cars will be fine. Please let me know if you can help. We will probably need 2-3 vehicles and more volunteer loaders/unloaders.

Age-appropriate toys. We would like to provide some toys and books for the younger children and, when we learn more about the interests of the 13-year-old, something special for him as well.

We have a great core team leading this effort: Steve Hauser (co-lead), Susan Hauser, Peg Maloney, Mimi Gold, and Jessica Peoples. Throughout our six month commitment to the family, the team will be reaching out to parishioners for personal interaction with the family beyond the splendid donations you’ve already made. The initial steps are setting up the homes; equipping pantries with basic, culturally appropriate food supplies; greeting them at the airport; and giving them a hot, culturally appropriate meal the night of arrival. The next steps will be to get the kids enrolled in school, the adults enrolled in ESL classes and signed up for various programs, and finding employment; helping them learn how to use MARTA, grocery shop, and other basic skills for becoming Americans. We especially need volunteers who have even a little knowledge of French; since 4 of the adults in the family are in their 20s, we would love to have some of the younger adults in the parish befriend these newcomers and help acclimate them to life here. Please let one of the team members know if you want to help in these early stages.

Please hold these brave people tenderly in your heart.

With deep gratitude for the people of St. Dunstan’s,

Suzanne Johnson

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