Today we heard disturbing news about the willingness of our nation to welcome and protect some of the world's most vulnerable people: refugees.  By definition, refugees are those fleeing their country due to war or persecution.  They need our help.

San Diegans can feel particularly proud of our role in welcoming large numbers of refugees to our region.  In the early 2000s, St. Luke's Episcopal Church members made it a point to meet Sudanese refugees at the airport and begin the long process together of learning to live in the United States.  Today St. Luke's is proud of its identity as a home for many Sudanese refugees and their American-born children. In turn, these Sudanese-Americans have warmly welcomed recent arrivals from many nations, including the Congolese men leading the Swahili song in the video at right. If you're wondering how to show your support for the refugees living among us, consider:

• donating to RefugeeNet, a local refugee services nonprofit that runs a food distribution for sixty three City Heights refugee families out of St. Luke's kitchen every Thursday
• contributing to the upgrade of St. Luke's kitchen so that we can enter into a partnership with the International Rescue Committee to begin a culinary arts job training program for refugee women and youth
• let us know if you'd like to serve as a companion to a local refugee family -- we looking in to creating a pairing program

St. Luke's strives to be a haven for those left without homes, and we're doing this by serving newly arrived refugees and North Park's recovery community.  We're proud to announce that we're now also hosting Uptown Community Services Center on campus, a faith-based nonprofit that serves North Park's homeless.  Check out this great article and video published last week by the Union-Tribune on Uptown and St. Luke's!

Thank you for your support and your prayers -- may God give us the clarity of vision and the courage to stand with refugees in this time of their great vulnerability.

Peace,

Colin and Laurel
St. Luke's Episcopal Church/North Park Project