It was a challenge from the beginning. Moving to a new country is never easy – much less so as a refugee family with only three bags of possessions and limited English. But the Villanueva family stayed open to the experience and embraced life in a new city.

Spokane is filled with people to learn about and be inspired by. Those chances are only heightened when interacting with people who come from different backgrounds.

Naomi’s family was separated from before she was aware of her own age, from before she could understand why there was war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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.”