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Community sponsorships will help resettle 300 refugees from Afghanistan in the area — Fulton Rotary Club offers a template

Jay Nies | The Catholic Missourian | Read Full Article online

The Fulton Rotary Club’s communal sponsorship of a resettling family from Afghanistan is uniting people of all ages, creeds and political stripes behind an essential cause.

“Yes, we’ll give them a lot, we’ll provide a lot,” noted Dr. Robert Hansen PhD, one of the leaders of the Fulton Rotary Club’s refugee resettlement project. “But they’ve already given us so much, and they haven’t even arrived yet!”

Fulton Rotary has been working with Refugee Services of Catholic Charities of Central and Northern Missouri (CCCNMO) to welcome a family of 13 to Fulton this month.

These 13 are among about 300 people fleeing Afghanistan, many of whom eligible for special immigrant visas, who will be resettled in Central Missouri following the collapse of the Afghan government this summer.

Many of those fleeing from Afghanistan currently qualify for special immigrant visa status in the United States, based on the danger they would likely suffer for having worked for or with the U.S. during the Afghan War (2001-21).

Several U.S. federal agencies screened and vetted the people who are being admitted to this country.

They technically are not classified as refugees but are eligible for the same services refugees receive from the U.S. government.

“They’re here because they have a well-founded fear of severe persecution of them or their families in their home country,” stated Samantha Moog, director of Refugee Services at CCCNMO.

They are being resettled through the nation’s nine major refugee resettlement agencies, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services (MRS), with which CCCNMO Refugee Services is affiliated.

Read the full article online: https://catholicmissourianonline.com/stories/catholic-charities-refugee-resettlement-seeking-help,3610