A word of reflection by Executive Director of World Relief Triad, Rob Cassell.
As we begin 2022, two main themes have been constant for the past few months going into the new year. They are gratitude and growth.
Gratitude
Both World Relief and our clients have felt incredibly loved by our community. As we welcomed Afghan families with a much-reduced timeline to prepare for their arrival, the community sprang into action. They arrived amid challenges regarding document, support delays, and housing difficulties. Good Neighbor Teams were quickly formed to welcome them and provide support, even as Congress lagged in this area. They helped ensured that these families would have their best chance to re-establish themselves here in the Triad. Others gave large one-time gifts solely dedicated to this population. Church members all the way from Boone, NC, began to contact us to see in what ways they could help become a community of welcome.
As we face the reestablishment of Winston-Salem as an official resettlement site and a ten-fold increase in arrivals, our community has already formed 10 Good Neighbor Teams to welcome them, along with several other groups forming Home Setup Teams to make sure that our newest neighbor’s homes are furnished and decorated to welcome our families.
We have also seen the business community of the Triad partner with us at unprecedented levels – both reaching out to partner with us in employing our clients and becoming what is known as a “Business of Welcome.” Businesses of Welcome partner with World Relief financially to create a community where all can thrive.
Growth
The theme of this year could easily be described as having a lot of growth as well: both growth in size and growth in service. We have many positions open to accommodate the increased number of clients we are seeing, with a lot of time and energy into training and empowering new staff to serve our community. Because of this growth, we are excited about providing more profound and more holistic service to our clients.
Some highlights to look forward to this year:
- The expansion of our Youth Mentoring program to Winston-Salem.
- A greater development of our Community Garden to include more agricultural and nutritional educational opportunities
- An increased focus and development of the Guilford Minor Trafficking Response Team – bringing together multiple community partners to combat the trafficking of minors as well as the new staff and capacity to serve the immigration legal services needs of the area.
We are excited by this growth and appreciate your partnership as we make the Triad a welcoming community together.
Grace and peace,
Rob Cassell
