Continuing Service to the Afghan Community!
Catholic Charities La Crosse (CCLSE), in conjunction with ECDC and New Beginnings, has supported, provided resources and aid to 57 Afghans within the Wausau and Stevens Point communities. Housing, transportation, culturally appropriate meals, and English education were identified as necessary primary lines of effort early.
The first effort was put towards immediate housing, with CCLSE providing $4,340 in rental assistance beginning in May. Secondly, in answer to the need for affordable housing and with the support of St. Vincent de Paul and others in the community, Catholic Charities acquired a two-bedroom, two-apartment residence. This fall, volunteers across Wisconsin are coming together to renovate the house and make it a home for Afghan families. We are also grateful to Holy Name Parish as we will work with them to provide another family with affordable, clean housing! Everyone needs a place to call home.
Transportation is another tall request by the Afghan community. With the help of active sponsor circles, CCLSE has assisted two families in acquiring vehicles to support their large families. The cars allow autonomy to the families and make it much easier for the adults to get to jobs, run errands, and attend medical and legal appointments.
In addition to rental and transportation assistance, CCLSE has worked with ECDC to provide over $2600 worth of halal meat. This meat is enough to sustain meals for 57 individuals for over a month.
And to answer the call for additional English education, CCLSE has worked with New Beginnings in establishing an English Language Learners (ELL) program, providing the program with 11 laptops for the Afghan community to utilize.
We are feeling blessed to be able to continue the work that we began a year ago out at Fort McCoy. We have wonderful partners that we continue to support and help our new Afghan neighbors feel welcome in our community. If you would like to learn more on how you can join this effort, please feel free to reach out to Beth Archer, our Afghan Project Coordinator, at barcher@cclse.org. Please keep all those we serve in your continued prayers! Thank you!
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