DuPage Helping Hands program helps refugees with language, skills
Imagine yourself on a trip to another country, a place where you don't speak the dominant language, where the culture and customs are dramatically different from ours.
Think of the difficulties you'd have navigating this new place -- in finding your way around both physically and socially.
It might seem like a great adventure if you know you're coming home in a week or a month or a year.
For refugees, their trip to our country is a permanent move. And while building a new home and a new life may be exciting, it's also challenging.
Without knowing English, refugees have a tough time finding jobs, housing and medical care.
The Helping Hands Refugee Assistance program aims to help by being "an American friend" to take refugees by the hand and show them the way, program director Alyce Litz says.
Program volunteers help parents and children develop their English skills and become familiar with daily life in the United States.
The program, based at Village Green Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn, operates under the umbrella of the LOVE Christian Clearinghouse, a Clarendon Hills-based consortium of churches representing 25 denominations in 16 communities including Addison, Bensenville, Lisle, Lombard, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, Villa Park and Wood Dale.
Litz tells us more about the program.
Q. What is your mission?A. God loves all people of the world. We seek to provide loving care and practical assistance to needy families learning to assimilate into a new culture, in the name of Christ.How do you work toward accomplishing that goal? A. We try to advocate for them in many situations where they just need an American friend. It can be as simple as helping them understand the instructions on a medicine bottle. It can be helping them understand their landlord's complaint. It can be teaching them daily living skills and hygiene. We are trying to help them assimilate into American culture. We meet with them once a week to practice English. We sometimes take them into the church kitchen to cook. We take them to the food pantry on a regular basis to help them use their very meager incomes to pay their rent. We strive to keep families together to raise their children.Who do you serve? A. We served African refugee families for our first four years and several have moved to other areas now. We started serving Burmese refugee families this past year along with some of our original African families.When and why did the program start? How has it grown? A. I had mentored a single family for four years and when the daughter went to college, I felt I needed to help more refugee families on a larger scale. I asked two friends to help me and from there we found more volunteers and in 2006 developed a program that served 25 African families and 60 children. We are always looking for more volunteers as the program can only grow to the size we can handle with our core group of volunteers.What kind of success have you had? A. I was able to find housing for a family with nine children. They are refugees from Somalia. The husband is employed as a dish washer at a hotel. They were living in a two-bedroom apartment. I also have helped a refugee with newly diagnosed diabetes. I asked to see his medications and he had taken four weeks of meds in two weeks. He didn't understand the instructions and no one had taken time to find an interpreter. I was able to talk to the pharmacist and his doctor.What challenges does the program currently face? A. We always need more volunteers. We need churches and groups to do supply drives for necessary items our families can't get with food stamps. We need funds to run our weekly get-togethers.What do you wish the community at large knew about Helping Hands? A. Anyone who comes to visit our program falls in love with these families. Some people have expressed fear at getting involved. They feel that they just wouldn't know what to do or say. If they just come and watch they're hooked!How can readers get involved? A. Call me or Jean Rosio.- Christie WillhiteFalse16001200Helping Hands Refugee Assistance helps refugees learn everyday skills. Here, program participants and volunteers cook in the kitchen of a host church.Helping Hands Refugee AssistanceFalse <p class="factboxtext12col">Families helped: 35, many on an ongoing basis</p><p class="factboxtext12col">Budget: $12,600; most funds used directly for the families, no cost for use of the church</p><p class="factboxtext12col">Funding: Grants, churches, private donors</p><p class="factboxtext12col">Employees: One 10-hour case manager</p><p class="factboxtext12col">Volunteers: 15</p><p class="factboxtext12col">Wish list: Aldi grocery gift certificates, cleaning supplies, emergency groceries, gas vouchers, Target gift certificates, diapers, funds for car repairs and rental assistance</p><p class="factboxtext12col">Donate or volunteer: Contact Alyce Litz at (630) 668-2244 or ajlitz@aol.com</p>