Here is a short story from Hendersonville, NC, a town in the western part of the state, where a little uproar occurred earlier this summer when a local Episcopal Church proposed making the town a new site to place mostly Syrians, Somalis, Iraqis and some of the other ethnic groups being brought in to the US right now in large numbers.
Turns out that the contractor the local ‘church’ people approached isn’t interested right now, so it looks like the idea is dead on arrival. I’m reporting this not for that bit of news, but to remind you that your local churches and INTERFAITH groups are on the offense to try to convince the feds and a resettlement contractor to add your town to the growing list of sites. (The Refugee Processing Center website has not put up the directory of sites we had for years been able to access. Maybe the State Dept. doesn’t want you to know!)
I recommend that you keep your eyes and ears open in your ‘church’ circles and if you have an Interfaith group, join it, so you can stay informed.
From WLOS ABC News 13:
HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Members of a Hendersonville church appeared to drop a proposal to bring refugees into the mountains.
A spokesperson for Episcopal Migration Ministries—the organization associated with the church that handles refugee programs—emailed News 13 this week stating:
“Episcopal Migration Ministries was approached by a grassroots group from the area and we have shared in conversation, but we are not actively engaged at this time in developing a resettlement site.”
Hendersonville City Council member Ron Stephens was against the proposal.
Continue reading here.
See our North Carolina archive here and don’t miss this recent post about North Carolina’s changing demographics.
EMM is trying right now to get an office open in Charleston, WV, see here.