Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series on Olympians Amanda Banta and Susie Luby, who also happen to be volunteers for World Relief Spokane. To read part 1, Amanda’s story, click here.
Part 2
By Barbara Comito, Development Director
Susie Luby, who won the bronze medal in Alpine downhill skiing in 1972, started volunteering for World Relief Spokane in February of this year. Before that, she said the refugee situation wasn’t really on her radar. “Not at all.”
“I would say that I was not very attuned to the refugee story. I had not really been connected with that at all.” She had retired from a 30-year career in real estate, the last seven as a managing broker with John L. Scott.
“One of the things they say about retirement is don’t jump into a full-time volunteer job because now you’re back to working – but for free essentially – so spend a little time figuring out what your passion is. What is it that you want to do? This found me. I didn’t necessarily find it.”
“It really was one family.”
Susie and her husband were sitting at LAX on their way home from Mexico, and a couple rows over was a young family of six from Rwanda. “The littlest one is about two years old, and she’s just adorable. She’s sitting on her mom’s lap, and we’re making eye contact and smiling. I had noticed them earlier because they have four children, and they’re scattered about sleeping. Well, all of the sudden, the father, Maurice, picks up Casey, the little one, and walks over to introduce himself.”
That’s when Susie discovered they were refugees from Rwanda on their way to Spokane to be resettled through World Relief.
“It gets me choked up because it was kind of meant to be. Maurice is a very outgoing person, so I’ve always thought he sensed that I was safe. But I think he’s just really outgoing. I wouldn’t say it was necessarily because I was so wonderful, but I like to think that…They had actually missed a flight, so they had been stranded in LA for a little bit and had been traveling for more than 24 hours.” They were, of course, exhausted.
Susie took an instant liking to the family and wanted to make sure they connected with the right people in Spokane.
She told the family, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get where you are supposed to go.” So, as they deboarded, she waited and walked them up the aisle where they met their case manager.
“Bottom line, I wanted to stay connected to them, so I went to World Relief to figure out how to do that.”
This was right before the holidays. Susie went through the vetting process to become a volunteer and was connected to the family as a friendship partner in February.
She didn’t know exactly what she was in for, but she was committed.
“I really came into this because of this family. That was my motive, and my goal was to make sure that this family was OK.”
Learning Together
“For the first month, it was daily meetings – here, there, this, that. And none of us knew what we were doing.
“I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been to DSHS I can’t tell you how many times. I’ve been through the social system with them. I’ve helped them get their Social Security cards. That was a three-step process, trying to figure that out… I’ve been to doctors and dentists. Just a lot of stuff. Avista thinks I’m their grandmother. I’m on the list as their grandmother. I was able to help them renegotiate their lease for their home. Maurice is doing some lawn mowing for the landlord to reduce their lease so they could afford it. I’m kind of a one-person team.”
Susie respects hard work, and she sees that in this family.
“I’m a hard worker. I’ve always been a hard worker. I was way more of a hard worker than I was a talented skier. I had some talent, but I didn’t do it on raw talent. It was more of the work ethic.”
During her six months of working with this family, she sees that work ethic in them, as well.
“I think what I love about this program is that these are people who really want to succeed.”
When she looks at all they’ve been through – “leaving their country, leaving their family, starting over where they don’t know the language, having the confidence to uproot their children” – Susie’s commitment to help them is renewed, and she sees that desire to help reflected in the social system, as well.
“What I’ve found at DSHS – and I have sat through many a meeting with them now – is… When we meet with those wonderful people who have the patience to work there, when they see that these people want to work – they need help, they need assistance to get there, yes – however, they don’t want to be on assistance forever. They want to provide for themselves, and the doors open wide when that message comes across.”
Community Connections
Susie has also helped World Relief to make other community connections.
“I genuinely believe that this job is too big for all of you. It takes a village. For a family to be successful, it takes someone in their lives beyond World Relief.
“I mean, you guys do an amazing job. However, there’s only so many hours in a day, and you have so many people. So, without that community connection…because there’s so many things that have happened that they could have fallen through the cracks so easily. Right now, they could be ten steps behind where they are today.”
Susie agreed with Amanda that this work is about making the world a better place – both for us and for our children.
“We always gain more from giving than we ever give. And I also have two children of my own, two kids who are grown, and we know that this world is a very tumultuous world, and I feel personally that it takes a village, and the only way we can make it better is to help one family at a time. For my kids, to have these people be successful, helps our world be better. And, so, that’s the way I look at it. It’s just simply that. As I go, looking forward, they’re doing quite well. They’re getting on their feet. It’s a process.
“I will always be connected with them. I’m kind of part of their family now. My ultimate goal is to see them be super successful on their own.”
About the Author
Barbara Comito is the Development Director at World Relief Spokane. In addition to leading a team of creative professionals, she is married to a chef, has four children and three grandchildren, loves to garden, write and read/watch British mysteries.