Today, our shepherd, Archbishop Joseph Naumann talks with Rachel Pollack, the director of Refugee and Immigrant Services for Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas. More people today are living as refugees or displaced persons than any time since World War II and the world now has over 65 million people who are uprooted [...]
At 72 years old, learning a new language and studying civics three days a week for several months, is no small feat. Palak, a refugee from Bhutan, did that and more. He passed his naturalization exam, took the Oath of Allegiance and became an American citizen! Palak is among the more than 250 students who [...]
The following is a reflection written by Andrea Curnes, a St. James Academy high school student who volunteered with our Refugee School Impact (RSI) Summer Program. The program collaborates with community partners, other Catholic Charities’ programs and volunteers to help prepare newly arrived refugee children for school in America. I had an incredible experience working [...]
You can never have too much of a good thing – unless it’s an over-abundance of fresh produce coupled with a shortage of storage. That’s the dilemma faced by two New Roots for Refugees graduate farmers. Fortunately, JLL, a firm that specializes in real estate and investment management, stepped in to help out. The JLL [...]
It’s been a decade since ground was broken on a nine-acre training farm in Juniper Gardens in Kansas City, Kansas. It is home to the New Roots for Refugees program, a partnership between Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas and Cultivate KC. The urban incubator farm model is an ideal fit for refugees, who often come [...]
Originally posted Kansas City Star BY ANNE MARIE HUNTER June 27, 2018 12:00 AM Updated June 27, 2018 12:00 AM Carrying his dreams and a gift for growing produce, Dhan Rai came to United States in 2009 with goal of building a better life. After a nine-year journey, the Bhutan native has found a home [...]
Originally published on Feast Magazine / Natalie Gallagher / May 25, 2018 Joseph and Far Thang of Victoria Gardens arrived in Kansas City after fleeing persecution in their native country. Far Thang is a petite woman with a heart-shaped, youthful face. She primarily speaks Hakha Chin, a language found in pockets of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar’s [...]
Ramesh Karki looks comfortable, leaning on a desk in his new office in Kansas City, Kansas’ Argentine neighborhood. He’s sporting a fashionably cut beard and a blue button down. When he landed at KCI in July of 2012, he had every reason to feel scared, defeated and nervous. He was a refugee, in debt to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) for the cost of his flight from Nepal, where he was living in a refugee camp along with thousands of other members of ethnic minorities expelled from Bhutan. But he was not scared. Instead when he arrived, he says, he had been “already thinking about the land of opportunity.”
Originally posted to the KC Star BY MARÁ ROSE WILLIAMS mdwilliams@kcstar.com May 01, 2018 08:00 PM Updated May 02, 2018 09:47 AM Phul Biswa simply could not contain the smile that spread across her face as she watched her son receive a $50,000 KC Scholars award Tuesday at Wyandotte High School, in Kansas City, Kan. [...]
Alexandra Kolker never imagined at this point in her life that she would have the opportunity to interact with an international population and teach life skills to new immigrants. Thanks to a partnership between Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas and AmeriCorps VISTA, she and others like her, are gaining more than professional experience - they're [...]
