The End of the line for the Welcome Center and helping newcomers.

We received word (June 10th) that our collaborative grant proposal to the MN Dept. of Health has been denied. It was a grant the Welcome Center submitted together with Growing Up Healthy which could have funded work over several years to eliminate health disparities for our immigrant and refugee communities by improving the conditions of the environment in which they live.

While there are several small grants pending, this denial means that we are once again facing difficult decisions. Unless other funding can be found quickly, we are potentially looking at closing our doors September 1. The crisis we faced last April was averted with positive results regarding several grants that we were awaiting at that time, but we have not been as successful this year.

We have been working on other funding streams and ways to improve sustainability, but it may be too little too late. We welcome any ideas.

This situation has led us to reflect on what has been and what could well end. The Welcome Center in Faribault has:
--Served 8900 clients with problem-solving and assistance since it began in 2002.
--Developed a Community Garden that has for 5 years provided a yearly opportunity for 30 families to grow healthy food while also getting to know neighbors of other cultures.
--Facilitated Sharing Circles, diversity education, sidewalk discussions, and other forums that have brought cultures together to build bridges and understanding.
--Started a food shelf for its clients that in 2009 distributed 71,000 lbs of food.
--Helped sponsor International Market Day, which has celebrated the community’s diversity with food, music, and dance over the last 5 years.
--Spoken with numerous groups to promote awareness and understanding of the issues facing the immigrant communities among us
--Helped people resolve issues with USCIS, Social Security, IRS, Unemployment and Social Services; filled out thousands of forms; helped people find housing and jobs; taught English and carpentry; gathered coats and mittens and hats…
--Interpreted for many, many people to help them connect with the community, with the government, with services needed for their families.

We believe that our work has mattered. We believe that it has reduced tensions and needs, maybe even lessened frustrations and hunger and crime. We do not believe the work is done, but we may not be the ones to continue it.

What happens never happens in a vacuum. The Northfield Welcome Center is closing July 1, due to budget cuts. If we too close, it will mean that assistance resources for the immigrant communities in Rice County will be greatly reduced, increasing obstacles for families to get the help that they need. It will be harder to find someone who can explain or advocate or make the call.

Regardless of what happens to us, the Latino, Somali, Sudanese, and other families in Faribault will continue to need your support. They are beautiful people who bring so much to our community. Let’s continue to make them welcome.

Bob Kell

How Does Your Garden Grow? By Bob Kell

The weather has been kind to the Community Garden this year.  Plants are off to a good start and the garden looks to become very productive.  People will be eating well in a couple months.  Much of the success is due to the hard work of the gardeners, who are about as varied as the vegetables!  We have gardeners from Honduras and Guatemala, from Mexico and Somalia, born here and born elsewhere, from mobile homes, apartments, and houses.  But all share the excitement of awaiting the gifts of Mother Earth.

We want to thank those who have helped make this garden grow….Donahue’s Greenhouse and Farmer Seed for the generous donation of plants and seeds, Heselton Construction for the load of black dirt, the State Health Improvement Project for its support of a water tank, the anonymous woman who donated the sweet corn and pea seeds, and Dan Zielske for all his hard work. 

But we also want to thank some unexpected supporters.  The children of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church just sent us a check for $1648.54 that they collected for their mission project this year.  The Faribault Diversity Coalition was chosen as the recipient.  We are so grateful for their support.  But the beauty of this goes even further. 

One of the goals of our work is to encourage others to join in creating a welcoming community.  We do what we can to create welcoming spaces, but the reach of the welcome is so much greater when it is extended in the daily lives of the many who partner with us.  The gift of the children is just that…a symbol of their desire as members of this community to make Faribault a place where everybody can feel at home, where they are glad that others have chosen to live here, where they say “welcome” to the immigrant and refugee children who share their schools and their streets.  That is what makes this work so fulfilling.  That is the real fruit of the garden.

The children are giving all of us a beautiful example.  Again, the heart of the child shows us the way.  Whatever your contacts with people of other cultures, of other conditions, of other language and customs, you can be the one who makes the difference.  You are the one who communicates respect, who helps people feel they belong.  Thank you too for the good you do.  Our garden is growing well.