| | | June 2018 Edition | | | Hello! We have many exciting events and updates to catch up you on in this months edition-- so let's get started! But first, we must thank you for a wonderful breakfast spent with you. We are grateful for your attendance and continued support of refugees in our community. As you move through this month's newsletter, please save the date and join us in celebration as we recognize the strength and resilience that refugees across the globe must posess to survive the atrocities of which they fled. Refugees are the heros of their own stories, and each year CWS observes the day (and sometimes the week) to honor that of our local refugees. We've got a lot of cool things happening this month, and we hope to see you at any or all of them! To support the work of CWS/Lancaster, please consider making a donation to serve refugees and immigrants of Lancaster County. Thank you for your support and welcome shown to our neighbors. Lancaster would not be what it is today without you. Truly Grateful, | | |  Sheila Mastropietro, CWS Office Director | | | | | | | Prayer Flags at Tellus360 |  Tellus360 Flags on the Rooftop | | As a direct implication of President Trump's first executive order denying refuge to the United States to many families and individuals fleeing their home countries, Lancaster remembers the loss of eighty-nine refugees who had once been approved to resettle into our community. Instead, they remain in the refugee camps they believed they were soon leaving behind. In the wake of the executive orders, the Lancaster community continues to respond with solidarity and compassion for these individuals. CWS/Lancaster, in partnership with several organizations, hosted a Concert for Refugees in January 2018 for refugees, immigrants, and Lancastrians to honor those individuals that would have become a part of our community, and to recognize the resilience of refugees all over the world. Upon arrival to the event, attendees received slips containing the names and biographical information of these eighty-nine refugees specifically barred from the United States. Community members wrote the names of these individuals on prayer flags that currently hang on Tellus360's rooftop in honor of World Refugee Day on June 20. As the wind carries the flags, the Lancaster community's goodwill, compassion, and love will travel to the individuals whose names are inscribed, as they wait for their fate in refugee camps. Maybe the next time you're around or at Tellus360, you will look up at these flags and join us in sending your own goodwill and thoughts to these families and individuals.
Thank you for your continued support, Lancaster. | | | | Documentary Film Showing: Human Flow |  Credit: Human Flow | | On June 20th, World Refugee Day, CWS is hosting a documentary film showing of Human Flow at James Street Mennonite, Lancaster, Pa. Arrival time is 5:30pm with show beginning at 5:45pm for this 2-hour film. Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice: from teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; from the haunting lure of lives left behind to the unknown potential of the future. Human Flow comes at a crucial time when tolerance, compassion and trust are needed more than ever. This visceral work of cinema is a testament to the unassailable human spirit and poses one of the questions that will define this century: Will our global society emerge from fear, isolation, and self-interest and choose a path of openness, freedom, and respect for humanity? Please join us as we honor the strength of refugees across the globe, and their incredible ability to survive-- this World Refugee Day. | | | | World Refugee Day Week of Action: June 17-June 23 |  | | Refugees need your voice to stand up for the welcome that is America. Please take a look and consider one of the many ways listed to make your voice be heard. Will you accept the challenge to take action every day from June 17-June23? Get engaged here! | | | | CWS 3rd Annual Refugee and Immigrant Soccer Tournament: |  Photo Image of 2017 Tournament winning team | | Please join us as 8 local refugee and immigrant soccer teams play for the cup at this years 3rd annual tournament being held Saturday, June 23rd, 2018. Kickoff is promptly at 11am and the teams will play until the championship cup is claimed! We are truly grateful for our sponsors whose contributions work to make this event as low cost as possible. Shout out to: CIRAC, Landisville Mennonite Church, Tellus360, Giant Foods, Weis Markets | | | | We are Hiring! |  | | Take a look or share with friends if you know someone who may be interested in working with refugees and CWS in Lancaster. Swahili-speaking Case Manager! Temporary Housing Specialist! Soon to announce a new position of Development Assistant! And a BIG welcome to our Summer Interns of 2018! We are happy to have you with us on the team. Have a great one, all-- CWS/Lancaster | | | | |
