DurhamCares

2012 Total Operating Budget: $625,000

Q1 Results:

World Relief settled 33 refugees in the first quarter and 43% of refugees in the United States for 6 months have reached comprehensive self-sufficiency*.

73% of resettled cases were paired with church partners.

World Relief Durham has filled out paperwork with United States Customs and Immigration Service to begin an accredited Immigration Legal Services program.

*For more information on how World Relief defines comprehensive self-sufficiency click here.

What

Empowering the local church to serve the most vulnerable.  In Durham, the local World Relief office focuses on creating community partnerships to assist international refugees as they start their lives over again in our city.

Why

World Relief began as an organization in 1944 with the original inspiration to respond to those suffering in war-torn European cities.  It quickly expanded across the globe and in the 1970’s began working with refugees coming to the US.  The resettlement program initially functioned like most parachurch organizations:  it sought additional funding from the church so that the organization could do the work.  Eventually, this pattern changed.  World Relief no longer strives to do the work of the church; they seek to connect local churches to the work that God has called the church to do while supporting the church’s work with specialized services. Durham’s World Relief branch , founded in 2007, operates out of this conviction: they desire to empower local churches to welcome strangers, serve the vulnerable, defend the weak, befriend the marginalized, and seek God’s transformative justice in our city.  In Durham, World Relief focuses on providing various services to newly arriving refugees and equipping local churches and community members to welcome, serve, and love these new neighbors.

Refugee Resettlement: Resettlement refers to World Relief Durham’s work to prepare for and assist a new refugee through the first six months of life in Durham. World Relief Durham receives federal funding from the State Department to assist each new refugee for 90 days. During this time period, World Relief Durham provides mandated core services that include assistance in finding safe and adequate housing, Social Security registration,  acquiring temporary social service benefits (Medicaid, food stamps, cash assistance), enrollment in school and ESL programs, and connecting them to appropriate health care facilities.  Within this broad program of refugee resettlement, World Relief Durham has a few specific initiatives.

Matching Grant: World Relief Durham participates in a federally funded “matching grant” program.  This program offers additional financial support (like rent assistance) as long as the local community members provides a matching amount of support.

Comprehensive Self-Sufficiency: Refugees come from a variety of backgrounds, from highly educated doctors who are fluent in English to people who have lived in remote jungles and received no formal education.  For the latter, adjusting to life in Durham has some major challenges, like learning to use public transportation or learning how to balance a checkbook.  World Relief Durham has created a self-sufficiency program that focuses on 5 key areas of adjustment:  employment, financial literacy, home cleanliness and safety, transportation, and health services.  With the assistance of interns and volunteers, World Relief Durham takes refugees through a curriculum designed to teach the basics skills needed in each area (e.g., how to determine the appropriate place to seek assistance for a medical need, or how to get to a new location on the bus).

Community Engagement: World Relief Durham works to connect the local community, especially the church, to newly arriving refugees.  With the conviction that the church should be an agent of social, economic, and spiritual transformation, World Relief Durham strives to assist local churches in the creation of outreach programs and volunteer teams to serve and befriend newly arriving refugees.  Refugee work combines international missions, local outreach, social justice, and hospitality ministries.  As the resettlement program is only partially funded by the government, these local partnerships allow World Relief Durham to go beyond state sponsored “core services.”  Through these partnerships, both the churches and the refugee community are transformed.

Key to the successful adjustment of refugees is the development of vibrant and well-connected refugee communities.  World Relief Durham connects new refugees with self-sufficient refugees of the same ethnicity or language in order to build communities in which refugees can identify with others. World Relief Durham then assists these communities in developing structures to identify, articulate and respond to their own community’s needs.  Local churches and community members are able to establish empowering partnerships to support these refugee communities.  As people who’ve had to flee their country, refugees come over deprived of a larger, supportive social network.  The community in Durham has a chance to encourage, assist, and build relationships with these refugees as they start their lives over again in our city.  World Relief Durham not only serves to connect local churches and community members to refugees but also provides training and resources to help them serve in an empowering manner.

Andrew Castle

Resettlement Director

Andrew Castle has worked with World Relief for nearly two years. He and his wife, Ruth, have been involved with internationals in many capacities for ten years. They have two children, Nathan and Hope. Andrew enjoys growing deep in community with others, enriching friendships and recognizing God at work around him. Some of his hobbies include: family time, music, movies and time outdoors.

Tim McGee

Church & Volunteer Coordinator

Tim has been with WR Durham for one year. He and his wife, Skyler, came to Durham from Denver, CO so Tim could work on a masters degree from Duke Divinity. After graduating in 2009, Tim started working with WR. He is a member of All Saints Church, enjoys reading theology and touring art museums, and most especially being with their daughter, Isabella Haven.

Temsula Bass

Health & Social Adjustment Coordinator

Temsula is from Nagaland, India and her husband, Nathan Bass, is from Nashville, NC. In 2005 she graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest with D. Min in Missions. She served churches in NE India until 2007 and joined WR Durham in November 2009. Temsula and Nathan attend North Wake Baptist Church. She enjoys reading, traveling, history, music and meeting people from all nations. They are expecting their first child in December.

Emily Boone

Case Manager/Employment Specialist

Emily is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Originally from Winston-Salem, NC and is new to the Raleigh/Durham area. She just joined World Relief as a Case Manager/Employment Specialist. She attends church at The Summit in Durham. Emily enjoys reading, playing sports, and traveling and is looking forward to more opportunities for travel overseas.

Brenden Miller

Case Manager

Brenden Miller moved to North Carolina in 2007 with his new wife Becca. Both Becca and Brenden are originally from Ohio and do in fact, miss the snow and cold of winter. Brenden started with WR Durham in March of 2010 as Resource Manager and moved to Case Manager in August. Both Brenden and Becca love to travel both stateside and abroad and look forward to their next trip overseas.

Julius Sheppard

Resource & Development Manager

Julius Sheppard V hails from Arkansas, by way of Missouri, Colorado, and Oregon. He is married to Nicole, with whom he shares the grace of life - their two sons: Nathaniel (7) and Andrew (5). Julius holds a B.A. in Sociology and a Master of Theological Studies from Duke Divinity School. He finds that he is most fulfilled when he offers up his body - in doxology to God - in prayer, physical labor, and study (he is most fascinated by theology, sociology, economics, agriculture and architecture). Often, he is distracted by everyday concerns but is learning, not least from this job, family and friends, to integrate the two.

Lark Walters

Case Manager

Lark is originally from Springfield, OR, but has been a North Carolina resident for the past 12 years. She graduated from Salem College with a B.A. in International Relations and German in 2009. Following graduation, she served as a volunteer at the Legal Education, Aid and Research branch in Mombasa, Kenya. She was introduced to World Relief as an ESL tutor and case management intern in 2009. She recently joined the WR Durham team as a Case Manager this September. Having only moved to Durham in August, she lives with her aunt and is currently searching for a church community to call home.

World_Relief_Final_Report_2012.pdf