Beloveds of God at Beargrass Christian Church,
Blessings and gratitude to you from the staff of your Week of Compassion – the relief, refugee, and sustainable development ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Our mission is to work with partners to alleviate suffering throughout the world, with a vision of a world where Godās people transform suffering into hope. Your generosity, your prayers, and your engagement make this work happen, and we are profoundly grateful!
In this time of significant change – domestically and internationally – our mission remains unchanged, and the work is all the more important.
Disasters continue to plague our neighbors around the world, and right here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Week of Compassion continues to work with partners at both ends of the state, in response to the 2021 Tornado Outbreak in the west and the 2022 and 2025 flooding in the east. We are also in early conversation about potential long-term recovery needs in the Monterey and Frankfurt areas affected earlier this year. Through recovery grants, pastoral and informational support, and volunteer opportunities, Disciples are helping communities rebuild. (I encourage you to talk to your very own Rev. John Richardson, who serves as a Week of Compassion Disaster Site Leader, about what recovery looks like on the ground!)
As you certainly know, from your relationship with Kentucky Refugee Ministries, for the first time since the creation of refugee resettlement programs during World War II, the president has halted admissions of nearly all refugees. This has created significant challenges for the organizations that support refugees who are already here, building new lives in the US, making partnerships with churches like Beargrass critical. Week of Compassion Associate Director for Immigrant and Refugee Response, Rev. Grace Kozak, would be delighted to talk with you about available grants, informational resources, and a monthly zoom call for churches engaged in ministry with immigrants and refugees.
At the same time, indiscriminate and aggressive cuts to USAID and State Department grants have eliminated critical supports for refugees around the world. Among the programs disrupted by these recent funding freezes are the protection and shelter services provided by Week of Compassion partner YCWS for refugees in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Several years ago, I led a group of seminarians and new pastors to meet with YCWS and other partners in the country. We visited a house, which was, at the time, home to about three dozen refugees, mostly unaccompanied girls in their early teens from Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Two young women led us through the house, proudly pointing out neatly made bunkbeds and stacks of rubbermaid storage drawers.
On the rooftop patio, another young woman from the staff pointed to a corner: āThatās the screaming corner. I tell the girls, if they need a place to let out their anger, to scream or cry, they can come here. I come here, too.ā
From the roof, the young women led us through their computer lab and into the large entry, where blankets had been spread across the floor. As we were urged to sit, these women and girls circulated through the room, offering homemade bread and kabobs, while others adorned our hands with henna. The āhostā in my corner of the room was 7-year-old girl ā an Afghan refugee who had fled the wars of her homeland and was living with her mother in this shelter home, where their legal status was tenuous and their futures were in limbo. As we feasted, she showed off the words she had learned in Bahasa Indonesian, and told us first in Arabic, then in deliberate English, that she was going to be a surgeon.
When cuts to US funding hit the YCWS budget, they reached out to Week of Compassion. Because of the generosity of people and churches like you, we were able to reallocate funding to secure the continuity of basic programs and ensure that these beloveds of God are not abandoned in this moment of crisis.
The crises and suffering may seem unending, and yet, through the partnerships we nurture and the witness we bear together as Disciples, hope persists. Thank you for being part of this work, for being part of Week of Compassion.
Peace,
Rev. Caroline Hamilton-Arnold
Week of Compassion Associate Director for Domestic Disaster Response
ca******@**************on.org