By John Tompkins
The Lexington area will be ready to welcome as many as three refugee families by spring.
The Refugee Working Group, an interfaith coalition that has been working since last fall to resettle refugees in Rockbridge County, will hold its third gathering on Wednesday to tell attendees how they can aid in the relocation process and organize volunteers into separate task groups. Some will be charged with preparing for the refugees’ arrival, while others will focus on providing continuing support for the families once they are here.
Jerry Nay, the group’s lead coordinator, said that after this crucial organizational meeting, the Working Group will be mostly prepared to welcome refugees to the Rockbridge area. He hopes that a few families will arrive in the coming months.
“We’re open to refugees anywhere,” Nay said. “Whoever comes to us, we’ll take care of.”
Anne Hansen, another leader of the Refugee Working Group, said that the coalition is gathering clothing and other resources for the refugees and is also working with a local contractor to build homes for them. She said a number of local residents have already offered to donate furniture, and some residents have even said they are willing to take refugees in, if need be.
“We feel completely overjoyed that our community has been so welcoming and supportive already, even without people here yet,” Hansen said. “We suspected it would be like that, but it’s been more than we ever truly expected.”
While the idea of bringing refugees to Rockbridge County originated during a meeting of R. E. Lee Memorial Church’s Christian Outreach Committee, more than 250 volunteers of various Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist backgrounds have since agreed to take part in the relocation process.
Now that the Refugee Working Group has become so diverse, Nay said he does not want to tie it to a single church or denomination. To demonstrate this, he decided to move the Working Group’s next meeting from R. E. Lee Memorial to Rockbridge County High School, and he is applying to make the group an independent 501c3, or tax-exempt nonprofit, organization.
“It’s really turned into an ecumenical and interfaith exercise,” Nay said. “The goal is simply a humanitarian goal. We’re in no way focusing on a particular [religious] group.”
While the United States admitted roughly 70,000 refugees from around the world last year, the issue of resettling Syrian refugees in this country has been a hotly debated topic over the past few months. The rise of ISIS and its pledge to infiltrate U.S. borders through the refugee intake process have led some to believe that accepting such refugees would pose a risk to national security.
Late last year, 25 Republican governors vowed to block the entry of any Syrian refugees into their states because of security concerns.
Nay said any refugee his coalition brings to the Lexington area will be rigorously vetted by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, and the Working Group will in no way solely concentrate on or specialize in the resettlement of Syrian refugees. He said he actually respects the actions of these Republican governors and understands their concerns.
“I have no problem with politicians slowing that process down,” Nay said. “It only protects us. If it takes a little longer, we’ll be ready.”
But many local residents have been more receptive of refugee relocation, Syrian or otherwise. Lexington City Council expressed its unanimous support for refugee resettlement in Rockbridge County in a statement released last November, and both Nay and Hansen have received very little backlash from Rockbridge County residents against giving refugees a home in the Lexington area.
Nay said that he will be meeting with Lexington Mayor Mimi Elrod next week to discuss imminent relocation plans. She said she wholeheartedly supports his efforts.
“I feel like this is something that we should do,” Elrod said. “As a Christian, I think this is what you do…you open your arms to people.”