Syrian Refugee Family Team Needs Volunteers

The team working on sponsorship of the Syrian refugee family is gearing up for the next stage. We’ve raised the necessary funds, now we are gearing up for the arrival of the family in mid-September. But, we still need help!

Mentors: We need 5 more volunteers to sign up for this role. Our mentors will visit the family at least 6-10 times over the next year. Each mentor visits once every other month, although additional visits will be necessary in the first few months. It’s possible that our family won’t need help for an entire year, but we ask that mentors prepare for this possibility.  Mentors will help the family get used to living in the U.S., showing them how to shop in a grocery store, use the CTA, or explain other everyday parts of life. Mentors also arrange for social events to help the family become more familiar with the Chicagoland area and to have fun together.  If you want to ease this family’s transition, please contact Jane Kenamore at jkenamore@ameritech.net.

Furnishings team: This team had already done a great deal of work, but needs some additional help during the family’s move-in period (most likely mid-September). We need one additional volunteer who would help organize the moving of furniture and housewares into the family’s apartment. For more details, Contact Marilyn Wroblewski at mwroblew1109@gmail.com.

Providing rides to appointments  If you could help take members of the family to appointments with your car. please contact Jeanne Kerl at figkerl@gmail.com.  We are anticipating that they will need this help, so we are asking for several people to be on call.

Many thanks to all of our gracious, generous donors and to the volunteers who have already put in lots of time in preparation for the arrival of the family.

—The Refugee Family team