Hope and Help for Refugees

Parts of the world come together -- figuratively and literally -- inside Refugee Family Services on Memorial Drive.

On a map placed on a corridor wall, different strings indicate the countries current clients come from. The major groups include Burmese, Bhutanese, Burundi, Somali, and Iraqi.

Then, take a look outside, behind the buiilding, and there are children of some of these lands having after-school fun provided by the organization that first got started in Clarkston.

The children enthusiastically swing a racket at a tennis ball, romp on the playground equipment, or chase each other within the fenced parameters.

Each year, Refugee Family Services assists 2,600 refugee women and children who often come to the U.S. with little to no English skills, and who are on the long road to a new life.

They have fled severe hardships in their homelands, including war. They've come through refugee camps, where some families can spend several years; in fact, less than five percent of refugees in the world are ever resettled, said Brittany VanValkenburgh, AmeriCorps member  and volunteer coordinator at Refugee Family Services.

In refugee camps, they "barely had their basic needs being met," VanValkenburgh said. There is overcrowding. Children often have periods of interrupted schooling.

Besides the after school program, which runs Monday through Thursday and hosts about 100 children a week, Refugee Family Services provides assistance  to its clients through its Women's Support Program and the Employement Initiative, RFS School Liaisons, among other help.

It has one of only two pre-kindergarten programs in the entire U.S. exclusively designed for refugee children. The program is funded by the Georgia Lottery.

Refugee Family Services is looking for more long-term, dedicated volunteers in after-school tutoring, one-to-one tutoring, and its program for high school students, which runs on weekends. There is also a program to assist women where the volunteer visits weekly, helps the client with her English-speaking skills and basic but very important skills such as handling American money.

The organization, which was incorporated in 1997, said half of the women who seek its services are unemployed. Nearly two-thirds have family incomes below $10,000 a year.

Refugee Family Services receives some federal and state funding, has annual fundraising events and applies for grants. Its 2010-2011 operating budget is a little more than $1.8 million.

The organization has gotten a boost from the volunteer group AmeriCorps, a volunteer service group administered by the federal agency Corporation for National and Community Service. Through AmeriCorps, Refugee Family Services was able to increase its staff by 25 percent in the 2010 fiscal year, VanValkenburgh said.

"We rely heavily on volunteers. There are so many needs," VanValkenburgh said, adding that volunteers "have the opportunity to stop a cycle of poverty in its path."

To learn about applying to serve through AmeriCorps, click here.