Call for Sponsors for 4th Annual Project Playhouse
Habitat for Humanity will be holding its 4th Annual Project Playhouse event on Friday, May 10th at the Hagerstown Aviation Museum. As you know, this event brings the community together to build playhouses for children from low-income or disadvantaged families throughout Washington County. Project Playhouse also raises funds so that we continue to provide much-needed affordable housing.
We hope that your team will join us this year and sponsor a playhouse! Like last year, Habitat will match you with a local family and provide a list of family interests that will help you design a one-of-a-kind playhouse that will be given to the family at no cost.
We appreciate your support to Habitat and to our community. See attached sponsorship forms with more information. You can also check out our website: Project Playhouse — Habitat for Humanity of Washington County (habitat-wc.org)
Thank you for your consideration. I’d be glad to discuss this in more detail and answer any questions you may have.
Melanie Watts
Community Impact Coordinator
Habitat for Humanity of Washington County100 Charles Street
Hagerstown, MD 21740
(301)791-9009 X 105
melaniewatts@habitat-wc.org
www.habitat-wc.org
Asylum Granted! And a new child is born!
Malalai N. and her beautiful family received the happy news recently that they were granted asylum. They had fled Afghanistan in August of 2021 as our U.S. troops withdrew and the Taliban took control. Through humanitarian parole, the Nawabis lawfully entered the U.S. Members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hagerstown met Malalai through their Food Pantry and Clothing Bank outreach.
While she was grateful for the helpful items Trinity provided, Malalai was anxious and tearful about how to start the complicated process of applying for asylum. Trinity created the Welcome Friends mission in an effort to provide friendship and support to this newly resettled refugee family. Through the generosity of Trinity and other community members, they were able to hire an immigration lawyer to assist them on their journey. After eighteen months of waiting, their dream has been realized and they have been granted asylum. Thanks be to God! Malalai expressed her tremendous gratitude, and that of her family, to Trinity for showing them so much love and support. She says she will be eternally grateful to the church.
Refugee Welcome Network continues the work
Since this family, eleven other refugee families and individuals from Afghanistan and one from Haiti have relocated to Hagerstown and requested assistance. Welcome Friends morphed into the larger Refugee Welcome Network (RWN) in an effort to meet these increased needs. Under the auspices of Hagerstown Area Religious Council (HARC), approximately 15 community members meet at least once monthly to facilitate support for our refugee community. We help procure affordable housing, jobs, school enrollment, household items, health care, and applicable social services. We have recently assisted three families with submitting asylum applications and are currently helping four families apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Employment Authorization Documents (EAD). Fortunately, God led a retired immigration lawyer to our team, so we no longer have to pay for legal counsel. Unfortunately, the pathway to eventual citizenship, which each of our families ardently desire, is expensive. The fee to apply for TPS and EAD’s for a family of four is $1,200.
New birth is celebrated
Daphnée C. moved to the U.S. with Humanitarian Parole, a work permit and social security number, and a 1-year-old boy. She found out after arriving that she was pregnant; meanwhile, her husband, who was supposed to follow a couple months later, is still stuck in Haiti since the U.S. embassy in Haiti closed due to civil unrest. Daphnée is on her own, but in the last few months has been surrounded by support from her church, St. Andrew’s United Methodist, and the RWN. RWN found her an apartment and has paid her rent while she approached the birth of her second child. Georges (pictured on the left), was born shortly before midnight Dec. 13 at Meritus, and is seen here at home in Hagerstown with his “big” brother, 16-mos. old Windsor. Mother and children are doing well, and are extremely grateful for the support and friendships developed during this time period. You can read her poem of thanks here.
Moving forward, help still needed
RWN held a retreat in November to help discern our path forward. Rental assistance for multiple families and current economic realities are daunting. However, we repeatedly have experienced God’s grace in providing talents and treasures when needed. Your prayers for this mission are very much sought and appreciated. If you are led to make a monetary donation, you can donate online here (designate to “refugees”) or make the check out to HARC and place “RWN” or “refugees” on the memo line and send to HARC, P.O. Box 1158, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1158. The donation is tax-deductible and would be greatly appreciated. Volunteers are also wanted! If you would like to become involved in this effort or have any questions, please contact refugeewelcome@harccoalition.org or call 301-842-4272.
Free Choir Robes and Vests Available, Seeking Hand Bells
San Mar Family and Community Services featured at HARC meeting
“Acknowledgement is the heart’s memory‘’ by Daphnée C., Haitian refugee
Translation of a thank-you letter from Daphnée C. to the Refugee Welcome Network, translated from French to English:
“Acknowledgement is the heart’s memory‘’
“It is with so much love that I express my gratitude to everyone who have supported me during my difficult times (“terrible situation”), and who have held me in your hearts and still do. Without you I wouldn’t have known what to do. It’s by going through these difficulties that I realize the real family isn’t your biological family, but those who hold your hand during the hard times.
Truly, you who have embraced my son Windsor and me in your hearts without expecting anything, will be blessed by God in return a hundred-fold. You have done everything from love, with no restraint.
In thinking about the situation that I have encountered, I tell myself that you are my only family here. You have done everything for us, Windsor and me, so that we could be comfortable.
In conclusion, I would like to tell you: “Gratitude is the memory of the heart that forms a beautiful flower bouquet.” Thank you very much to each and every one of you who has given a flower to form this bouquet.”
– DAPHNÉE C. and WINDSOR
It Takes a Village
“It takes a village” to prepare for the birth of a baby to be born among the refugees being helped by the Refugee Welcome Network (RWN), a collaborative program under the auspices of the Hagerstown Area Religious Coalition (HARC). The mother, a Haitian refugee with a year-old son, has been housed in an apartment whose bare windows are now covered in curtains donated by a member of HARC President Rev. Christopher Serufusa’s church – St. Andrew’s United Methodist, and blinds donated by HARC volunteer Ashlee Harris, owner of Blinds by Ash and representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and hung by her employee, Joveneil DaSilva (pictured). Baby clothes, toys, care items and furniture were also donated by RWN members. All of this was coordinated by Paulette Lee, a strong and caring “family ally” who advocates for Daphnée and gives her an anchor of friendship. Thank you to ALL to have contributed to the stability of this family and other families served by the RWN.
Recording of HARC Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Bank of Charles Town raises $16,250 for Micah’s Backpack
Refugee Welcome Network plans for growth
Over the past year, the Refugee Welcome Network (RWN) has worked with 12 families and individuals, most of whom are from Afghanistan – our allies who fled for their lives when the Taliban took over. New families continue to seek the RWN’s help, our funding supply is low, and some of our volunteers were feeling overwhelmed. It was time to regroup and plan for growth and the sustainability of this important work, so the team held a full-day planning retreat on November 7 to plan for future growth and sustainability.
Thanks to the help of Mary Ellen Waltemire with One Step Closer coaching, we were able to identify our vision and mission, a desired organizational structure with task teams, clear procedures and processes, and began to work on specific criteria for who we will help. The group decided to remain under the umbrella of HARC while we work on the many pieces of sustainability, with the potential to some day become a separate 501c3 organization, if the need arises. Discernment and work on the goals is underway while we continue to serve families in crisis. Active partners include the Islamic Center of Hagerstown (lead partner with HARC), Children in Need, Bester Community of Hope, the Judy Center at Ruth Ann Monroe Primary School, Literacy Council of Washington County, Family Healthcare of Hagerstown, South County Ministerium, Trinity Lutheran Church, Haven Lutheran Church, and numerous other houses of worship.
We need your help!
- Volunteers are wanted to serve on various teams and/or become a “family ally” (make a friend!). Learn more and sign up here if you are interested in helping in this way.
- Funding is needed to assist new families with rent, food, home supplies and connectivity, as well as other special needs. Our asylum seekers are especially vulnerable as they have to wait a long time to be able to work legally. You may donate through the HARC website with a notation of refugees, or mail a check to HARC, P.O. Box 1158, Hagerstown, MD 21741-1158.
- There are many Household needs of furniture, appliances and home goods for our new families. See our current NEEDS LIST.
- Work is needed for several of our families.
- Support Harambe54, a catering company whose owner is teaching on of our talented cooks the ins and outs of catering so she can some day start her own business.
The number of refugee families coming to Washington County, Maryland is growing, driven by violence and oppression in Afghanistan, unrest in Haiti, war in Ukraine, and conflicts in other countries around the world. Thanks to God’s grace and many willing hands and hearts, we were able to start a network of assistance to help people find safety and welcome in our country and county, and work toward independence and becoming contributing citizens. Previously, there was no other organization here to help them. Thank you for your support and prayers as we welcome new friends to our community with love, grace and open hearts and minds.