WHAT IS LHI’S WELCOME PROGRAM?
LHI’s Welcome Program works with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Catholic Community Services (CCS), and Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection (CRIC) to set up apartments for refugees recently resettled in the Salt Lake City and Logan, Utah areas.
Since the Welcome program began in 2021, LHI has set up over 500 apartments for families from nearly 20 countries. Learn more about the history of the program on our blog.
LHI has welcomed refugee families from Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Burma, Guatemala, Somalia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Turkey, Tanzania, Burundi, Venezuela, Eritrea, Syria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Iran.
WHY IS THE WELCOME PROGRAM SO IMPORTANT?
Refugees resettled in the United States have experienced persecution in their home countries. Often, the United States is the last stop on a long journey. Although resettlement in the United States offers the promise of permanence and safety, arriving in a new country can feel overwhelming and confusing.
When LHI sets up an apartment for a resettled family, the team makes sure that everything the family needs, including 2 weeks worth of groceries, is on hand. Our volunteers make beds, often with handmade quilts and blankets, and leave items like stuffed animals and school supplies to make the family’s home as comfortable and homey as possible.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Volunteer! We have two main tasks people interested in volunteering for the Welcome Program generally do: pulling items from our warehouse stock for a set up and going to the apartment to set it up. To find out more about volunteering, please contact anne@lhi.org.
Donate items. Resettlement agencies are required to furnish all apartments with specific items before families arrive. If those items are not donated, then resettlement agencies must purchase them out of the already small stipend families receive to get them started. When you donate any of the items on our Needs List, there is more money available for families to meet their basic needs. You can order directly from our Amazon Wishlist, ship items using Give Back Box, or drop off donations at one of several locations throughout the Salt Lake area. To find one near you, contact traci@lhi.org.
Donate gift cards. Gift cards to places like grocery stores, Walmart, and Amazon are always helpful! We often rely on gift cards to purchase items that we don’t have on hand in the warehouse, but that are required to be in an apartment. You can mail gift cards to Lifting Hands International, 920 E State Rd, Suite H, American Fork, UT 84003 or send e-gift cards to traci@lhi.org.
Donate funds. Monetary gifts are important to all of our efforts in Utah and enable us to purchase items that haven’t been donated and also to meet emergency needs as they arise. Just use the donation form on this page to make your gift today. Thank you!
“We have to pull out all the stops in welcoming the refugee and the immigrant, in getting to know those who live around us, in showing love to our neighbors. We can’t afford to isolate people anymore. We can’t afford to push folks to the fringes of our society.”