The Work Continues

While there is little doubt that the recent Presidential election will affect the work of the New Neighbors Coalition, there is no telling exactly how. As any Bills fan can tell you, the game is not over until it is over. What might seem like a travesty one moment like failing to convert on 3^rd down and being forced to punt, may lead to a botched return and fumble recovery in the end zone. Living into the unknown can cause great anxiety and despair. We can be tempted to disengage and withdraw into ourselves. 

The good news is that New York State Office of New Americans Grant that funds the full-time employment of our Program Director, Momina Di Blasio, has been executed for 2025 and is renewable for 2026. Our work goes on and we need your support to continue to welcome our New Neighbors and to work to sustain the conditions that will keep them safe.  

The 12^th century Sephardic Rabbi and Philosopher, Maimonides taught that we ought to live life like the entire world was carefully balanced between good and evil, and that our very next action might tip the scales. So if you’re feeling frustrated and angry—maybe set an intention to seek “the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” There are many ways to transfigure your frustration and despair into service for the world. We need your help to create the world that fosters mutual respect between immigrants and insiders. 

Image of naturalization ceremony courtesy of Robert H. Jackson Center.

Christian Perspective On Immigration

Ed Vos, a leading volunteer who spends countless hours supporting new neighbors, is familiar with nearly all aspects of immigration.

He was born here and instantly became an American citizen just a few months after his family arrived in 1956 from the war-torn Netherlands. A church group welcomed the family and he acquired several unrelated new “aunts and uncles” in the process.

That positive experience prompted him to write a letter to the editor that appeared Nov. 9 in The Post-Journal. He quoted both the late Republican Ronald Reagan and the words on the Statue of Liberty.

Reagan’s words ring as remarkable today as when he spoke them in 1989. He said, in part, that: “Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier."

We are incredibly appreciative of Ed's advocacy on behalf of new neighbors in our community. His letter to The Post Journal can be read here.

My View

New Neighbors Coalition Manager, Momina Di Blasio, was honored to have her editorial published in the Sunday edition of the The Buffalo News on September 1st, circulating about 89,000 copies.

Di Blasio was thankful for the opportunity to feature the New Neighbors Coalition and share her personal story with the Western New York community.

The article can be accessed here with a paid subscription to The Buffalo News. Alternatively, a screenshot of the article can be found here.

Upcoming Events

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND:

Renowned ornithologist Dr. John Rappole to AGAIN Discuss Life Migrations: His Own, Avian and Human Immigration

On Thursday, November 21^st at 5pm, Dr. John H. Rappole will lead a conversation, entitled, Migration: A Chance for a New Beginning. The program will feature personal stories from Dr. Rappole’s recent and most biographical of his more than 10 books, Migration Mysteries: Adventures, Disasters, and Epiphanies in a Life with Birds (Texas A&M: 2024). The event is sponsored by the New Neighbors Coalition and will take place in the St. Luke’s Chapel in downtown Jamestown. 

Born and raised in Jamestown, Rappole migrated away from to start a lifelong journey in search of one thing—finding out why birds migrate. The developer and chief proponent of the “dispersal theory” of bird migration, Rappole will not only share his original scientific research, but also from his various migrations around the world. While studying birds around the world, John learned a lot about humanity in the process—exploring new cultures and learning Spanish. All of which has proved invaluable in his retirement as it has prepared him to volunteer with the New Neighbors Coalition to assist others in their cultural integration. 

Rappole promises that this conversation will be “a wild ride!”  Migration Mysteries “is an epic account of the struggles, adventures, calamities, mistakes, and disasters involved with figuring out how migration works-as lived by me, my family, and a cast of incredible people with whom I have shared the path. And one more thing-those awe-filled moments when you realize that something you just saw or learned changes everything.”

The conversation is free and open to the public. Rappole will speak for about 35 minutes and then respond to questions from the audience. Refreshments will be served. 

The Facebook event can be accessed here.

 Las Posadas: Celebrating the Open Door

Las Posadas is a traditional Latin American celebration that dramatizes Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and their search for shelter before the birth of Jesus. Las Posadas includes processions, prayers, and song as Mary and Joseph go from house to house, looking for a place with room for them to stay. The commemoration ends with a grand celebration, when Mary and Joseph are recognized and offered hospitality; in that moment, the prayer service becomes a party with food, music, and a piñata. St. Luke’s Episcopal (Iglesia de San Lucas Episcopal) is partnering with the New Neighbors Coalition to host our first bilingual Las Posadas celebration on Friday, December 13^th at 6:30 pm. 

You are invited to experience the Search for hospitality that many of New Neighbors have experience, as we celebrate the reason for the season. The Rev. Yuriria (Yuri) Rodríguez , a priest from the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, will be our leader. Yuri is a native Costa Rican singer, artist, and educator, who specializes in Latin American music and culture. For 20+ years, Yuri has performed in, and conducted choirs of sacred and Latin American music in the United States. Through music, she has developed programs and curriculums to accompany diverse communities in their journeys of faith, affirm their sense of identity, and celebrate God already present in the other. Yuri describes herself as a priest with a passion for learning to be in liminal spaces between English and Spanish, between Latino and US cultures, between tacos and BBQ.

 WNY Refugee Film Festival

Journey’s End Resettlement Services is hosting their sixth annual Western New York Refugee Film Festival Starting on September 26^th. They have very graciously made New Neighbors Coalition a festival partner and will provide us with a link for volunteers to view the movies at no cost to us (or you)! To learn more about the WNY Refugee Film Festival please visit their website here.

On Thursday, December 5th at 7pm, the New Neighbors Coalition and the St. Luke’s Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination will host a local screening of the WNY Refugee Film Festival’s double feature, I Come From Away & Nos Vemos Pronto in the St. Luke’s Undercroft. Come watch with us and enjoy some movie snacks! This event is provided free of cost thanks to the generosity of Journey's End Refugee Services.

The Facebook event can be found here.

To watch the film independently, this link can be used to request the Zoom link where the movie will be shown. Please enter New Neighbors Coalition in the 'company name' field and St. Luke's address, 410 N. Main Street Jamestown, NY 14701, can be used instead of a personal one.

Volunteer Billboard

Find upcoming volunteer opportunities in one convenient location!

Volunteer Opportunity: Saturday, November 16th @ 9-10:30am

Please join us for NNC's monthly coffee hour at the CODE Community Room at 633 E 2nd St. in Jamestown. Volunteers are encouraged to attend to chat and mingle with new neighbors and help with some informal English language practice. Seating may be limited- please bring a camp chair, if able to do so. Volunteers who are able may also bring a non-meat (or meat byproduct) snack to share.

Volunteer Conversation: Monday, November 18th @ 5pm

We are ready to take the next steps in developing a plan to support new neighbors on their journey to obtaining their driver's license. We are inviting volunteers who may be interested to attend a brainstorming session and share their ideas and help us think through establishing some general procedures and guidelines. This is not a commitment to teach folks how to drive, but a conversation around creating processes. Meeting will take place on the Johnson Stage of the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Opportunity: Tuesday, November 26^th

Join us to prep for our second annual New Neighbors Coalition Thanksgiving dinner! We will be preparing food for Thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon. If you wish to volunteer on Tuesday, please contact Momina at momina@stlukesjamestown.org or call the. Luke's parish house at (716) 483-6405. We will reach out to interested parties with exact times once we have established a schedule. Cooking will take place in the kitchen of the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Opportunity: Wednesday, November 27th

Join us to prep for our second annual New Neighbors Coalition Thanksgiving dinner! We will be preparing food for Thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon. If you wish to volunteer on Wednesday, please contact Momina at momina@stlukesjamestown.org or call the St. Luke's parish house at (716) 483-6405. We will reach out to interested parties with exact times once we have established a schedule. Cooking will take place in the kitchen of the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Opportunity: Thursday, November 28th

Join us for our second annual New Neighbors Coalition Thanksgiving dinner! There will be many opportunities for volunteering throughout the day, including cooking and set-up, serving and enjoying a community meal, and clean up afterwards. If you wish to volunteer on Thanksgiving Day, please contact Momina at momina@stlukesjamestown.org or call the St. Luke's parish house at (716) 483-6405 to indicate your availability. We will reach out to interested parties with exact times depending on needs and volunteer availability. If you wish to come to dinner, we plan on eating around 3:30pm but are always appreciative of grace and flexibility. Volunteers are also needed to assist with transportation of new neighbors to and from dinner. Dinner will take place in the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Opportunity: Wednesday, December 4th @ 5pm

Please join us for a St. Luke's sponsored eucharistic event. We will have a child-focused service called Rhythms of Grace and opportunities for adults to engage in conversation around their Christian-based faith. NNC will provide interpreters for accessibility. Volunteers will be needed to assist with kiddos and provide transportation, if necessary. If you wish to volunteer, please contact Momina at momina@stlukesjamestown.org or call the St. Luke's parish house at (716) 483-6405. This event will take place in the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Training: Thursday, December 5th @ 5pm – Journey's End Refugee Services and New Neighbors Coalition are hosting a mandatory training session on volunteer/staff dynamics, volunteer/new neighbor dynamics, roles, boundaries, etc., with ample time to ask questions and give feedback. If you cannot attend, we will have a recording that can be watched at a later time. We request all current volunteers to attend (or watch), and invite those who are looking to get involved to come learn more about the onboarding process! This training will take place in the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Event: Thursday, December 5th @ 7pm

New Neighbors Coalition and the St. Luke’s Commission to Dismantle Racism and Discrimination will host a local screening of the WNY Refugee Film Festival’s double feature, I Come From Away & Nos Vemos Pronto. Come watch with us and enjoy some movie snacks! The showing is provided free of cost thanks to the generosity of Journey's End Refugee Services. This event will take place in the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Conversation: Monday, December 9th @ 7pm

Join us for our Global Perspectives Book Club discussion of Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance. More information about the book can be found further down in this newsletter. This meeting will take place in the Fenn Library at St. Luke's Church (in the Undercroft, behind the Johnson Stage).

Volunteer Opportunity & Event: Friday, December 13th @ 6:30pm

Join us for the dramatization of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem and their search for shelter before the birth of Jesus. Las Posadas includes processions, prayers, song, and a grand celebration, when Mary and Joseph are recognized and offered hospitality; in that moment, the prayer service becomes a party with food, music, and a piñata. Volunteers are needed to assist with transporting new neighbors attending the event. This event will take place in the St. Luke's Undercroft.

Volunteer Opportunity: Saturday, December 21st @ 9-10:30am

Please join us for NNC's monthly coffee hour at the CODE Community Room at 633 E 2nd St. in Jamestown. Volunteers are encouraged to attend to chat and mingle with new neighbors and help with some informal English language practice. Seating may be limited- please bring a camp chair, if able to do so. Volunteers who are able may also bring a non-meat (or meat byproduct) snack to share.

Call(s) to Action

Thanksgiving – New Neighbors Coalition is once again hosting Thanksgiving Day dinner for new neighbors and volunteers who wish to attend. We realize this is a day many in our community spend with family or choose not to celebrate due to the holiday’s dark historical context. Though we never want anyone to feel obligated to assist or participate, we also want to create an opportunity for new neighbors who may realize the holiday's importance locally, even if they do not celebrate on their own, and may feel particularly isolated during this time. We also hope this can be an opportunity for volunteers who may not be traveling or seeing their own families, to spend it in community.

There are many opportunities to contribute to our efforts both on Thanksgiving Day and before. Some of our needs are:

a. Prepping ingredients on Tuesday & Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day

b. Donations to help offset costs of hosting the dinner

c. Thanksgiving Day set-up and cooking

d. Sharing a Thanksgiving Day meal with new neighbors

e. Donating a dessert item

f. Assisting with clean up and dishes after dinner

Please note: in being mindful of Muslim new neighbors joining us for dinner, the entire Thanksgiving meal will be halal. We ask those donating desserts to avoid using meat products, including lard, gelatin (contained in most marshmallows and Jello), or anything with alcohol.

If you wish to donate or participate, please contact Momina Di Blasio at momina@stlukesjamestown.org or call the parish house at (716) 483-6405.

Rolling Carts - During this season of thanks, we want to express our appreciation for a very generous volunteer who sponsored and purchased 6 metal rolling carts for new neighbors. These can prove useful as many are getting around town on foot and these carts may facilitate getting groceries, doing laundry, etc. 

There are additional families who would benefit from these carts and the goal is to be as equitable as possible with resources. For those who may be willing contribute to this cause, especially as winter rapidly approaches, carts can purchased from Amazon here.

If it is more convenient, rolling carts can be delivered right to St. Luke's at 410 N Main St., Jamestown, NY 14701.

Home Again - As we welcome more families to Jamestown, need for household items continues to grow. The most current list of needs can be found here.

Donations from the list above can be dropped off on Mondays from 10am-2pm at Journey's End office located in the Chautauqua Works building at 4 E 3rd Street in Jamestown. Please inform the front desk at Chautauqua Works when dropping of any donations.

Please note, we only accept new or gently used items. If one would not gift the item to a friend, it should not be donated to new neighbors.

Literacy Tutors – As the number of families arriving in Jamestown continues to grow, so do their needs. Literacy Volunteers of Chautauqua County (LVCC) is always looking for more volunteers to assist those in need of ESOL and literacy tutoring. If interested in becoming a tutor, please contact them at lvccread@gmail.com.

To learn more about what this great organization does throughout our county, please visit the Literacy Volunteers of Chautauqua County Website.

Immigrants of Note



I.M. Pei

World renowned architect and Chinese immigrant I.M. Pei had a direct impact on Chautauqua County and many of its residents.

He and Henry N. Cobb, his architectural partner at the time time, developed and implemented the master architectural plan for the State University at Fredonia in the mid-1960s. The plan beautifully wove a new series of modern, sweeping concrete buildings into what had been a rather traditional brick and mortar campus. The modernization of the campus drew national attention to Fredonia with a several page feature in Time magazine.

Maytum Hall, Williams Center, Reed Library, McEwen Hall, Rockefeller Arts Center, and Houghton Hall were designed and completed under their direction. Later two in suite dorm complexes and dining halls were added by the firm.

“It was a heady time for Fredonia and its students,” recalls Phil Zimmer, a New Neighbors volunteer. He transferred in to Fredonia in the fall of 1969 and recalls all the construction in process. 

“The distinctive eight floor Maytum Hall still did not have windows installed when I arrived. Birds had been using the structure as a nesting site, prompting some local wags to call it the largest bird house east of the Mississippi.”

He notes it was –and is--a striking campus, especially the way Pei’s firm was able to use a cement walkway to connect most of the new major buildings on the 256-acre campus.

The Fredonia project was not the first time that Pei’s work turned heads, nor would it be the last. Before he passed at 102 years old in 2019, the Chinese-American had received numerous awards for his work, including but not limited to these projects:

--The pyramid for the Louvre in France (1989)

--The East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (1978)

--The Bank of China Tower (1989)

--The Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar (2008)

It was his innovative work on the Louvre that perhaps drew the most attention along with some controversy, perhaps largely because its innovative design was created by a non-Frenchman. Today more than 8-million persons visit the museum each year, attracted in part by Pei’s innovative work which pours light into a below-ground central reception area which helps unite the various sections of the older, traditional structure.

Pei was born in China and came to the United States where he earned an architectural engineering degree from MIT in 1939. War had broken out in his home country, forcing him to stay here where he earned his architectural degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 1946. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Because of continuing warfare in his native country, Pei stayed on in the United States and became a U.S. citizen in 1954. He passed in May 2019 at the age of 102, leaving behind a large architectural legacy for others in his adopted country and around the globe.

Volunteer of the Month

Pat Sandberg

Pat Sandberg is a multi-tasker beyond compare.

The volunteer of the month thinks nothing of walking newly-arrived immigrant mothers to the library in the morning to show them the way and introduce many of them to lighted pedestrian walk signs for the first time before spending the afternoon cooking with them as they learn how to make Congolese donuts.

“I learn as much as I have to offer them,” she says with an enthusiastic smile.

And that’s not simply talk for the retired registered nurse. She quietly and effectively advises young mothers on the importance of inoculations for their children, accompanies families to the doctors, assists them in shopping for clothing and groceries, and walks with them to their first few English classes at the library.

Her multi-tasking goes back several years in working with hospitals in South Carolina and Virginia as well as with the Red Cross and doctors’

offices in Jamestown. She has also volunteered with Creche for several years.

She often volunteers with her husband, Steve, who is a retired local architect. The couple has raised three children. They also have two grandchildren and two great grandchildren.



As more immigrants arrive, there is a need for additional volunteers to assist in a variety of ways, including driving them to appointments with physicians and eye care specialists to teaching them English and showing them how to grocery shop. Volunteers are also needed to assist in setting up apartments for our New Neighbors.

Global Perspectives Book Club

For the final Global Perspectives meeting we will be reading Out of the Sierra: A Story of Rarámuri Resistance.

From Goodreads: One displaced Rarámuri family charts a path forward for themselves and their community in this testament to the power of perseverance and the many forms resistance can take.

The effects of climate catastrophe and Indigenous erasure are specific and unforgettable in Out of the Sierra ’s vivid portrait of one Rarámuri family forced to leave their home in the Sierra Madre mountains. Displaced by drought and food shortages, Martina, Luis, and their children journey to Chihuahua City, toward a new and uncertain future in a government-funded Indigenous settlement.

With tenderness, intelligence, and deep insight into the many shapes resistance can take, Out of the Sierra offers a testimony to human resilience and the power of community in the face of broken systems. Blanco considers Indigenous resistance and identity, race, and climate change with compassion and care, What can we learn from the Rarámuri people, who are resisting assimilation and upholding traditional knowledge in our era of climate catastrophe?

Based on two years of oral history collection and participatory field work, Out of the Sierra elevates the stories of the Gutiérrez family and interrogates the systems and history that caused their displacement and poverty.

Here is the link to purchase the book through the Good Neighbor Bookstore's website, a local bookshop in Lakewood. We will be meeting on Monday, December 9th, 2024, at 7pm in the Fenn Library at St. Luke's Church (in the Undercroft, behind the Johnson Stage). Access the book club's Facebook event here.

If you are interested in joining, please let us know by sending an email to momina@stlukesjamestown.org.

Donations

Furniture

Dressers and dining tables and chairs continue to be our biggest furniture necessities. We are so thankful for the community's very generous donations, and we continue to ask for your patience as we navigate our ever-shifting furniture needs.

As our donation program is run almost exclusively by our wonderful volunteers, we only schedule furniture pick ups on certain Mondays of the month, based on availability. If you wish to be on pickup list, please call 716-483-6405. Please know that due to our limited capacity, monthly pickups are on a first come, first serve basis. We may not be able to pickup from all donors within the month requested. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Household Items

Non-furniture household items such as pots & pans, dishes, sheets, small appliances, etc. can be dropped off on Mondays from 10am-2pm at the Jamestown Journey's End office located in the Chautauqua Works building at 4 E 3rd Street in Jamestown. Please inform the front desk at Chautauqua Works when dropping of any donations.

Please note, we only accept new or gently used items. If one would not gift the item to a friend, it should not be donated to new neighbors.

Food

Many new neighbors eat foods that are different than what we may be used to or readily available in stores, especially in a self-stable manner. If you are interested in donating food, please consider donating gift cards or money to be put towards groceries. If you have food you would like to donate, please consider donating to the Salvation Army food pantry.