We give thanks for the following groups and individuals who support the work of Hope 4 Humanity, and immigrants everywhere.
Madison Burke serves as the Migrant Services Coordinator at Church World Service-Durham. CWS Durham is a local immigration & resettlement office of Church World Service (CWS), a global humanitarian organization. Since 2009, CWS Durham has welcomed refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers from around the globe into lives of freedom, hope, and opportunity in Durham and our surrounding communities.
As the Migrant Services Coordinator, Madison oversees the Immigrant Solidarity Fund, or ISF. The ISF is a state-wide, grassroots effort to support undocumented families and mixed-status families who are facing financial hardship due to natural disaster, emergency, or ICE detention or deportation. 100% of all gifts go directly to families, as overhead costs are covered by another funding source.
Brandon Dockery is the Interfaith Program Manager at FaithAction and is primarily responsible for managing the Stranger to Neighbor program with congregation partners.He was raised in Alaska and has been a social worker and Friends pastor for 15 years. Brandon received his B.A. in Biblical Studies from John Wesley University and his advanced degrees in Divinity and Biblical Studies from Houston Theological Divinity and Carolina Graduate school of Divinity. Brandon aspires everyday to embody the teachings of Jesus and to love his neighbor as himself. Brandon is excited about the Stranger to Neighbor program and its ability to change the discussion on immigration.
Erendira “Endy” Mendez serves as Advocacy and Community Outreach Coordinator. She is responsible for bridge-building relations with our community, partners, and overseeing advocacy efforts. As a first-generation Mexican Immigrant, with DACA status, she is hopeful that through her work she can create platforms of leadership development, empowerment for the families we serve and for them to lead the work in the community. She is currently enrolled at Guilford Community College.
Amber Díaz Pearson is the Community Engagement Manager at World Relief-Durham. Her department is responsible for volunteer engagement, advocacy, church mobilization, community partnerships, and fundraising for the agency. She holds a doctorate in Political Science (international relations & political theory) from Duke University, and before coming to World Relief, she worked as a researcher, instructor, and program manager in applied ethics, focusing on human rights, refugee policy and forced migration, ethics in higher education, and faith-based community organizing.
The Church at Spring Forest
Welcoming and companioning refugees in their resettlement is a central ministry of The Church at Spring Forest. In addition to sponsoring families through World Relief and Church World Service, we offer a robust ESL program in collaboration with several other area churches. Our classes are held Fridays from 10 AM – Noon, at Pleasant Green UMC. We also host hospitality events at the farm to welcome immigrant families and for social gatherings. Our Friendship Gardens are under development and will provide spaces on the farm for immigrant families to grow their own, familiar veggies from their homeland.
During the Spring Forest breakout session Elissa Huffstetler, Shaima Muradi, Kate Rogers and Wendy Anderson will talk about the ESL program that collaborates with other faith communities and organizations for a community-oriented focus on refugees in the Triangle area.
North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church, Race Equity and Justice Ministries
The Race Equity and Justice Ministries within the North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church are dedicated to fostering intercultural competence, promoting institutional equity, and facilitating meaningful dialogues on religion, race, and culture. The REJM work guides and shapes the Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives of NCCUMC, challenging and equipping its members to engage in these vital discussions actively. Meanwhile, the Immigration and Refugee Committee of NCCUMC is committed to:
•Recognize, embrace, and affirm all, regardless of origin, as part of God’s family.
•Provide spiritual, financial, and legal support for refugees and immigrants.
•Organize immersion trips to raise awareness about border realities.
•Offer advocacy opportunities to champion the rights of refugees and immigrants.
Rev. Dr. Alicia Rapking Click here to contact Alicia via email.
Curriculum: Because They Had Hope
The Rev. Dr. Alicia Randolph Rapking is the daughter, sister, wife, and mother of United Methodist clergy. Growing up in the Western North Carolina Conference, she still feels the roots that hold her in North Carolina soil and launched her into ministry in other places, particularly the Appalachian region of West Virginia.
Her interest in refugees and immigration took hold on a seminary immersion trip, sponsored by UMCOR when she was at Wesley Seminary in the 1980s. Part of the trip took her into an Afghanistan Refugee Camp in Pakistan, where she heard stories of a way of life that she had never imagined before and looked into the faces of refugees and knew that God loved them as much as God loves her. In the fall of 2014 when refugees began pouring into Europe, she began to ask local United Methodist churches, in her appointment as the director of one of the WV Annual Conference mission projects, how they were praying for the refugee crisis in Europe and how they felt Christ would ask them to respond. The response that she received much of the time indicated that many felt that the problem was not ours and we didn’t really need to worry about it. In hearing that response over and over, she knew she was hearing God’s call to help others understand the crisis better and to be able to talk about it.
At the same time the crisis was happening in 2014 and 2015, she learned that several of her own ancestors had left Germany in 1709 as refugees and through a difficult journey landed in New York in 1710. A sudden realization that she is a descendant of refugees took hold of her and changed the way she saw herself. The group is well documented and discovering their history and their experiences as refugees and the treatment they received was not difficult. These two events led her to a renewal leave where she spent time in her ancestral hometown of Alzey, Germany and in United Methodist Congregations in Germany where they had embraced hospitality ministries to, for, and with the refugees in their midst.
After the renewal leave, she was able to enroll in a D. Min program where her project was writing a curriculum to use to help local congregations understand that all of us, who are not indigenous people, come from people who were refugees or immigrants. If we can embrace that about ourselves, then maybe the conversation that needs to happen in local congregations can happen. The curriculum uses stories of her own refugee ancestors, the book of Ruth, and stories of refugees she met in Germany, along with the encouragement for others to discover their own ancestors stories and to spark conversations that lead to better understanding of the refugee and immigration crisis that continues to grow and begs for our attention, especially as those who follow the way of Jesus.
The Rev. Kendal L. McBroom is the director of Civil and Human Rights at the General Board of Church and Society. He is responsible for managing and developing the agency’s legislative and policy advocacy in support of civil and human rights. He also works as a strategic thought partner and collaborator with United Methodist faith and secular coalitions to develop and implement strategies that advance GBCS priorities.