[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 15px 0px 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]
Country Club Christian Church will provide ongoing support for the first Syrian family to be resettled to the United States under a speeded up “surge operation” to resettle families fleeing that war-torn region. Volunteers from the church have been reparing a home for the family that arrived Wed., Apr. 6 from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Nancy Lear, Kathy Buckley, Jackie Cunningham, Jacqueline Cyphers, Linda Rives, Diane Jones and Susan Edwards, who all worked to have a home ready for this family, are part of a team of regular volunteers who prepare homes for refugees through the church’s partnership with Della Lamb Community Services.
The family, who is from the Syrian city of Homs, had been living in Mafraq, a town north of Amman, for three years. Since October last year, 1,000 Syrian refugees have moved from Jordan to the U.S. The resettlement surge hopes to increase that number ten-fold. A resettlement surge center opened in Amman in February to meet President Barack Obama’s target of resettling 10,000 Syrians to the United States by Sep. 30. Every day, the center interviews some 600 Syrian refugees.
Nancy Lear was interviewed by several local media outlets about Country Club Christian Church’s work to prepare for the family’s arrival and the church’s planned ongoing support. “Greg and I were proud to represent our congregation in welcoming this beautiful family to our community. I look forward to continuing to help support this and other refugee families who have been and will be resettled in Kansas City. This is one small way we can honor Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbors and welcome the stranger, remembering that Jesus was clear that our neighbors are not just people who look and think like us.”
Jackie Cunningham, who watched the news coverage of the family’s arrival on television, said, “Since I made up the beds for the family, I smiled as I looked at each member knowing they would be resting in the beds that I had touched with love and compassion.”
The church will provide ongoing support for the family in partnership with Della Lamb.
In December 2015, the church’s congregational board signed a statement of welcome to refugees, declaring that as people of faith and disciples of Jesus Christ, we are unequivocally called to welcome the stranger. The full statement can be found here.
Read More about this family in the local news:
First Syrian family to move to US under ‘speeded up’ resettlement program arrives in Kansas City
First Syrians in resettlement program headed to Kansas City
First Syrian refugee family leaves Jordan, arrives in Kansas City[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]
