Refugee REsettlement

A little history:

This Refugee Resettlement Project began in Fall 2021 with a women-led all-volunteer team at Central Reform Congregation, who engaged in a resettlement program offered by HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

To date the team has welcomed four refugee families from Afghanistan and Ukraine and continues to supports them building a new life in St. Louis.

Read the March 6, 2025 St. Louis Public Radio article about this work here.

In 2024, facing increased demand and a heightened need for administrative support, Ashrei welcomed the transition of this effort into our work in immigrant justice. 

The courageous, competent, core volunteer team continues to lead this project, interacting with and supporting the families as they have since 2021, while Ashrei is able to provide support in administration, fundraising, and advocacy to protect refugee status and expand the rights of all immigrants.

The work:

The work of resettlement generally falls into 3 phases: preparation, arrival and belonging. Volunteers lead the work at each stage, which includes:

  • Preparing and submitting sponsorship applications

  • Preparing for the family to arrive:

    • Purchasing plane tickets

    • Securing stable housing

  • Welcoming and assisting the family in integrating to their new community:

    • Paying rent for a year, utilities for 6 months, and providing a monthly stipend for the first 6 months. Past efforts have cost around $27,000 per family.

    • Connecting families with benefits and medical care,

    • Helping families obtain Social Security numbers and cards

    • Enrolling kids in school and providing support in coordinating services and meetings within the school district

    • Transporting adults to ESL classes (Interested in helping with transportation? sign up here)

    • Assists in creating and revising resumes and engaging in career coaching and job scouting

    • Helping newcomers obtain drivers licenses and vehicles

    Amidst all of this work, human to human connection shines as most important. The volunteer group forms relationships with and supports the industrious, brave, caring and creative people choose to make St. Louis their home.

New News:

The team was preparing to welcome a 4th family in January of 2025 but was devastated to learn that the plane tickets that would bring this family here were abruptly cancelled following a disgraceful executive order from President Trump.

Against the odds, we welcomed the project’s fourth family, the first under the Ashrei umbrella, on March 14, 2025!

The Father in our newcomer family assisted the military as a security guard in Afghanistan, which conferred his family a special immigrant visa and allowed them to move to a US military base in Qatar, Camp Doha. The state department tightly controlled who could leave Camp Doha for the United States and egress slowed to a trickle.

A family previously welcomed to St. Louis by our Refugee Resettlement group helped the family navigate the camp system to ensure permission to leave the base.

HIAS made an exception, in what is a tense immigration landscape and gave our group a greenlight to purchase their plane tickets so the family could arrive in the US before any new immigration bans occurred. After some false starts and itinerary rearrangements, Camp Doha ultimately allowed the family to depart the base on a Friday, normally a weekend.

Amidst the turbulent spring weather on March 14th, a family of six—a mother, father, and their four young boys, touched down in St. Louis late in the evening. They were warmly received with a warm Air BnB and a homecooked meal by our group, including the first Afghan family that the project sponsored in 2021.

Our team is abuzz, prioritizing semi-permanent housing and English classes to create a foundations for the family to thrive in St. Louis.

Read more on the Blog: ashreifoundation.org/take-action/refugeeresettlementproject

How to help:

  • Financial support for this family is our most pressing need. Please consider a restricted contribution that will go directly to rent, utilities, food, and supplies to stock their new home.

  • This project is also in need of volunteers to transport the families that we've resettled to regularly scheduled English classes and for occasional errands. Please share your interest and availability here.

  • We are not yet accepting donations of clothing or household items. Watch this space and our emails and socials for future requests!