IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE SUPPORT COMMITTEE

Mission Statement: We recognize and acknowledge the suffering of many people displaced from their homes by war, famine and injustice. Our primary purpose is to aid immigrant, refugee and asylee individuals and families. Through community initiatives and financial support, we work to position Shepherdstown as a location of immigrant support and for refugee resettlement. Through a cooperative and coordinated effort with the local community, Catholic Charities and other faith-based and allied organizations, we will help develop a robust support system. We will also encourage the community as a whole to be supportive and open to these families regardless of their country of origin, race, color, gender, age, sexual orientation, or religion

What We Do

  • Serve as an information clearinghouse, keeping current on policies and events related to immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to prevent the misinformation and xenophobia impacting our immigrant friends
  • The Other Side, a film produced by IRSC highlighting the humanitarian crises in Mexico on the Arizona border https://www.shepherdstownpresbyterian.org/news-media/news/other-side-cam...
  • “What’s Really Happening at our Southern Border?” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xQxkfXBHZ6r4mH-yAdPYnde6MsZMISP9/view
  • “Immigration Demystified” https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/x-IyySbvRovIP1_-KAsMkD0k9lqICCBaiGwkF-... Passcode: N7xM&VRZ
  • Provide financial assistance to free and support those who have been detained
  • to offset legal fees for mother and children seeking asylum
  • to transport family to hospitalized immigrant youth found gravely ill at border
  • to free detained immigrant teenager and reunite with U.S. family
  • Partner with local faith communities, Eastern Panhandle Catholic Charities, and other national groups and legal organizations assisting immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees
  • Teach ESL classes, coordinate collecting items for asylees and refugees arriving at border crossings with no personal clothing, mentor immigrant school-age youth needing help in completing college and financial aid applications, participate in citizenship classes to help prospective citizens prepare for exams to obtain Green Cards
  • Identified sponsor, researched legal/language/transportation needed to welcome and house asylum seeker individual or family in Shepherdstown community (suspended due to Covid-19 pandemic)

Resources