News from the International Institute of New England (IINE)

As of this date, the International Institute of New England (IINE) has not had to lay off anyone in spite of the loss of all federal funding that supports refugee resettlement. The Institute has enough funds from private and state sources to continue their programming for now. They have many new immigrants who arrived before the January termination of all entrees and need the services necessary to transition to living in the U.S. IINE also manages a state funded shelter in Lowell and some employees have pivoted to provide additional services and support to those residents, including English classes, cultural orientation, employment, legal services and stable housing. 

The staff at IINE is stressed and tired. Many of them are immigrants themselves and are juggling issues in their own extended families such as the pause in expected resettlement of family members and the loss of USAid programs in their home countries. They are also worried about their jobs.

The clients at IINE are amazingly resilient and show up for English classes ready to work hard, to help each other, and to talk and laugh together. One student who arrived in December from Afghanistan, is a father of seven children. He is here with his wife and six of his children, but there was a snag with the passport for his infant daughter, so she has been left behind to be cared for by grandparents. There is no way to know when they will be reunited. But he is grateful to be here and diligently engaged in learning English.

Last week four students in the Level 1 English class received Dunkin Donuts gift cards, donated by Good Shepherd, for perfect attendance at February classes. Remember those very cold mornings!! They showed up three mornings a week at 9:00! In the fall we provided 40 gift cards to DD and Market Basket that have been distributed to students in the in-person classes. We recently purchased 20 more. As you can see in this photo, they are proud to receive acknowledgment for their consistent attendance.

Thank you from Esperanza Academy

In December we ran a drive to support Esperanza Academy, a free-tuition middle school for girls in Lawrence. We collected $880 in donations which has been sent to the school to be used to purchase items on their wish list.

Esperanza Academy was thrilled to receive this gift and sent the following thank you letter to the parish community.

Dear Rev. Eleanor, and Ellen, and Esteemed Parishioners,

On behalf of our students, faculty, and alumni, thank you for your generosity. Your gift of $880 will help purchase school supplies from our Amazon Wishlist through The Esperanza Fund. We are so grateful for Barbara's leadership and support through this year's drive! Because of your partnership, we can continue advancing our mission to provide an urban education built on justice and centered in joy. Your gift helps Esperanza students learn and grow in a space where they can redefine what is expected of them and take on challenges that will positively impact the trajectory of their lives.

Your contribution helps prove that a tuition-free, independent middle school can succeed in moving Lawrence girls out of the generational poverty cycle and into fulfilling futures through education. In addition, your support ensures our girls' success beyond the walls of Esperanza. Our 12-year commitment includes the Graduate Support program providing mentoring and targeted academic, social-emotional, financial, and career support. Since Esperanza's founding in 2006, we have graduated 224 students. We are proud to share that along with 100% of our alumni completing high school in four years, over 75% of our graduates are pursuing higher education at schools across the country.

Your impact is felt at each step of the wrap-around Esperanza experience. As a supporter, you join a community of family members, faculty, volunteers, secondary schools, and colleges committed to helping our students soar. Once again, I deeply appreciate all that you have done and continue to do for our girls by choosing to give to Esperanza Academy. I send you my very best wishes from Lawrence and look forward to having an opportunity to connect with you so that I may express my gratitude personally.

With gratitude,

Pati Fernández

Chief Development Officer
Esperanza Academy

Understand the changing landscape of U.S. immigration, refugee, and migration policy

Immigration lawyers are saying it is hard to know who is and is not at risk in the rapidly moving changes in immigration orders during the last week. We do not know if our Afghan families will be affected. We think, but are not completely certain, that our Rohingya families may be okay. Churches are asking questions about how their on-site food pantries, ELL classes and even Sunday services may be disrupted by ICE and what are their legal rights.

The Episcopal Migration Ministries is actively engaged with the fast moving changes in immigration policies. They are offering an incredibly well-informed webinar series for church members every Tuesday at 1:00 PM EST to keep up with the deluge of questions and information. The first session had 800 participants.

Register for an upcoming online session.

Good Shepherd at Household Goods

In the middle of January, two teams from Good Shepherd, totaling 20 people, brought lots of energy to a variety of tasks at Household Goods. Over two afternoons they created family-size dish sets, sorted bins of donated linens, cleaned rugs and assembled dining tables. Our teams were amazed at the logistics and organization required to have enough goods in ready-to-go condition to completely furnish apartments for 104 households a week! This is something we will definitely do again! But, in the meantime, the next time you clean out your home or the home of a loved one, please bring your furnishings to Household Goods in Acton to help a family. They especially need lamps and twin sheet sets today. And, if you are looking for a regular volunteer commitment, they will put you to good work!

Two teams of shepherds recently volunteered their time and talents at Household Goods.

Bundles of warmth and goodwill

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the hat and mitten drive for the Acton Shelter. We donated over 100 hats, mittens, and gloves, including many hand-knitted ones and some purchased with $300 in contributions. Every item included a personalized card!!!

Special thanks to the Bates, Magee and Jackson families for coordinating this ministryto help local families stay warm this winter.  Thank you to the Mission Outreach Committee for championing and planning this community service.

Resettlement news

It has been ten months since our Rohingya family arrived in Massachusetts. Their transition to American life has been difficult after many years, and in some cases a lifetime, in a refugee camp. They have needed a lot of support from both the International Institute of New England (IINE) and the Interfaith Partnership group.

Although our specific responsibility has been to support the cohort of seven which included two adult siblings, their spouses and three children, the family is actually twelve people including a brother and his family who arrived in the spring, plus the matriarch of the family and a teenage brother. They all live in two apartments in Lowell.

At this point the oldest brother, who speaks fairly good English, is fully employed working the overnight shift. His job involves sterilizing medical supplies. He works overtime whenever it’s available and, along with his brother, is paying the full rent and utilities at one apartment. A member of IPRR has been meeting with him to teach him how to understand his paycheck, how to pay bills, use a credit card to build a credit history, and to start a savings account. This is all very new for him since his previous experience was earning $3/day and living in a cash economy. His next goal is to learn to drive and to have his own apartment with his wife and child.

His sister and her husband have had a more difficult time. They have struggled to learn English and have had some bumps in the road to overcome. He is now attending English classes 3 days a week at IINE and is eager to be employed. She is gradually coming to terms with the need to work to pay the bills in spite of the cultural norms around women working outside the home.

Getting a job is difficult when you can’t yet independently navigate the complicated process of submitting applications and taking phone calls from prospective employers. IINE has a philosophy of tough love with their clients. Our financial support will end soon. Both IINE employment specialists and the creative problem solvers in the Interfaith Partnership are working hard to find placements that will get them started.

In the meantime, the Partnership has provided Cultural Orientation classes to the whole family, weekly English instruction to the women, and bike riding lessons to the children, taken the families on picnics and to Halloween events in Lowell, and accompanied their mother to medical appointments.

The happy smiles on their daughters’ faces when they get off the school bus make us optimistic that they will all find their way.

A Meeting with Noah Bullock

In November about twenty devoted supporters of El Ocotillo had the opportunity to meet with Noah Bullock, the Executive Director of Cristosal, to learn about the current reality for human rights in El Salvador. Cristosal has for more than 20 years defended human rights and been the catalyst for long lasting positive social change in northern Central America. During his time in Boston, Noah met with the Governor’s staff, Bishop Julia Whitworth, and graduate students at Tufts and also conducted a workshop in Norfolk. We felt honored to have time with him.

The current authoritarian government of President Bukele has dismantled legitimate democratic processes and incarcerated more than 80000 people without due process. We discussed the effects we see in El Ocotillo where people, including alumnae of the scholarship program, are being dismissed from government jobs because they are not aligned with the incumbent political powers.

To learn more about the important work of Cristosal, check out their website.

The Maile Moore Fund

In honor of their daughter, Maile Moore, Ed and Delia Moore have made a generous donation from her estate to the Mission Outreach Refuge Family Support fund. Maile, who died suddenly in the fall of 2023, was proficient in Arabic, having studied the language and lived in Cairo Egypt. During her years in Boston, she used her language skills volunteering with immigrants and refugees, helping them acclimate to and navigate through life in Boston. 

These are some stories of how this fund has been used thus far to further the efforts of our immigrant friends and neighbors in becoming more fully integrated and successful in American life.

Members of the Interfaith Partnership for Refugee Resettlement came to know of a family in need shortly after their arrival from Afghanistan in the fall of 2021. We did not yet have a sponsor family. The Afghan family was living in Maynard and the International Institute of New England (IINE) asked if we could help them with transportation to their Lowell office and various appointments. As we got to know this wonderful family, members of IPRR helped one daughter find employment at Acton Medical, obtained a car for them, and continued to stay in touch.

Last spring members of the Afghan family reached out to Reverend Ellie to inquire about using the kitchen to start a business. Their brand-new business could not afford the rental rate for the kitchen so Maile’s Fund is supplementing the difference between what the family can pay and the rental rate. The Fund has also covered the expense of essential kitchen items and a course, both required by the Board of Health. As their business improves, they will pay a greater share of the rent. As all who attended the November dinner that they catered can attest, they are wonderful cooks and their business, Afghan Food, has a bright future. To see for yourself, visit Afghan Food’s Facebook page to place an order.

The Fund was also used to buy 40 small value gift cards to Dunkin Donuts and Market Basket that (IINE) is giving to their English Language Students as rewards for perfect attendance. Students attend 6-9 hours of classes a week depending on the class level. It is an important commitment. There is the option of either in-person or online classes. Learning English is the single most effective route to improving employment opportunities. In October, ten students received prizes for 100% attendance!

We expect to tap Maile’s Fund in the near future to pay a portion of the cost of a driver’s education course for the eldest son in our Rohingya family. 

We hope Maile is watching with approval all of the ways that her generosity is helping our refugees to improve their lives.

Maile Moore

Stewardship Reflections

Three reflections on Outreach experiences at Church of the Good Shepherd

Mitten, glove and hat drive for the Acton Shelter

During the month of November, we will be collecting brand new hats, gloves, and mittens for the residents in the shelter at the Minuteman Inn. For anyone who would prefer to make a monetary donation, the middle school children will take on the task of shopping.  Many of the residents are Haitians who are here legally with parolee immigration status. We are all aware of how they have been victimized by the nasty rhetoric on the campaign trail. We will be setting up a card making station to write messages of welcome and caring that we will tuck in the clothing. Our aim is to bring this bundle of love to the shelter the week of Thanksgiving.