CRIS Refugee Arrival Numbers on the Rise
Welcome Teams
Housing Partners
Welcome Kits
CRIS Resettlement Program set to welcome highest number of new arrivals in seven years
Aisha (a pseudonym) burst into tears in the baggage claim area of John Glenn International Columbus Airport last week, saying in her limited English, “I am just so happy.” After days and days of travel from Jordan, the Syrian mother of two was clearly overwhelmed with profound relief. Through an interpreter, she explained, “While seeking refuge in Jordan, some warned us about going to the U.S. They said that we would not be welcomed or supported here.”
Her first moments in Columbus, however, were quite the opposite. Four complete strangers greeted Aisha and her family moments after they stepped off their final flight to their new home with signs saying, “Welcome, Aisha’s Family” in Arabic and a stuffed animal for her seven-year-old daughter and ten-year-old son. Their greeters collected the family’s few earthly belongings and transported the travel-weary family to their new home–a fully-furnished apartment with cozy bedding, a stocked kitchen, and a hot Middle Eastern meal ready for them to enjoy.
These “strangers” are actually part of a larger group who recently completed CRIS’ Welcome Team training with staff member Teresa Gibson. Days before Aisha’s family arrived, their Welcome Team was able to set up their new home and stock it with Welcome Kit items they’d already collected.
Like each refugee family, Aisha’s family has many challenges ahead of them. In the coming months, they will learn English, secure employment, enroll their children in school, and much more. The CRIS staff ensures that these essential needs are met in each step of this journey. Knowing that they have the additional support of their Welcome Team, though, provides Aisha and her family with a deep sense of security and community during this chapter of their lives.
Arrival stories like Aisha’s are ideal: they have the added support of a Welcome Team who greeted them in their first moments in Columbus, and they were able to go directly to their permanent home that was fully stocked by their Welcome Team.
After several years of national refugee resettlement numbers in the U.S. being in flux due to changes in funding, infrastructure, and the pandemic, the number of “arrivals” like Aisha’s family that the CRIS office is resettling continues to rise. In fact, we are now resettling the highest number of refugees per month that we have in over seven years. At CRIS, we celebrate the resettlement program returning to a robust program, and we are truly excited to welcome especially high numbers of refugee individuals and families in the months of August and September as the fiscal year wraps up.
We would love for each incoming “arrival” to have an experience like that of Aisha’s family, and it is CRIS’ community partners serving in tandem with our staff that make that happen. We are calling on our community–both experienced partners and new ones–to help us meet the following heightened needs in the coming months: Welcome Teams, Housing Partners, and Welcome Kit donations. How would you like to join in this exciting time? Learn more about each of these opportunities using the buttons at the top of the page.