World Relief Congratulates its Seattle Office on Receiving $25,000 Award from Starbucks Foundation for Groundbreaking Work with Refugees

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
November 30, 2017
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Jenny Yang 443.527.8363
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World Relief Congratulates its Seattle Office on Receiving $25,000 Award
from Starbucks Foundation for Groundbreaking Work with Refugees

BALTIMORE, MD – On November 30th, World Relief’s Seattle office in Kent, Washington was one of 25 finalists awarded $25,000 from the Starbucks Foundation’s Upstander Challenge.  To be eligible for the award from the Starbucks Foundation, charitable organizations had to submit a video highlighting their work and demonstrate how it contributes positively to the community.

The video from World Relief Seattle features many of the various ways in which their office has welcomed nearly 1,000 refugees to Washington since January of this year, such as offering sewing and jewelry-making classes along with summer camps for refugee children. You can view World Relief’s award-winning video here.  

World Relief CEO Tim Breene, applauded this achievement stating, “Having spent time with their dynamic staff over the years, it comes as no surprise that World Relief Seattle would be recognized by the foundation of such a prominent, global business. Their steadfast dedication to the important work we do has surely made America a more gracious and hospitable home for those seeking refuge. I thank the Starbucks Foundation for acknowledging World Relief Seattle’s commitment to welcoming and caring for the world’s most vulnerable people in the great state of Washington.” 

A panel of judges chose the winners based upon inspirational content, community impact, video creativity and social media buzz. The foundation considers an Upstander broadly to be “a person or organization that acts to make positive change.”

World Relief Seattle is the largest refugee resettlement organization in the state of Washington and also serves vulnerable immigrants in Western Washington. The Seattle office has been around for almost four decades, and in that time, has resettled more than 30,000 refugees. In 2016 alone, the office resettled 1,205 refugees, nearly one-third of the amount settled in the entire state, and served over 4,000 vulnerable people in total. World Relief Seattle is also noteworthy in that the majority of their office’s leadership team are refugees and asylees themselves.    

Download the PDF version of this press release.

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World Relief is a global humanitarian relief and development organization that stands with the vulnerable and partners with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transform lives and build sustainable communities. With over 70 years of experience, World Relief works in 20 countries worldwide through disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding and has offices in the United States that specialize in refugee and immigration services.

Website | worldrelief.org  Twitter | @WorldRelief