Events: Please join us at our next event!
Every Sunday- ESL class from 11:00 to 12:30 at office location
May 19- Volunteer informational meeting, 9:30am
June 7-9- Food booth at Festival of the Arts
August 23-24- Barnstormer Music Festival in Rockford
VOLUNTEER INFORMATION MEETING - Sunday May 19th at 9:30am
Join us for our next volunteer training session. This is the first
step to becoming involved in helping refugees in the community through
our program. Learn about refugee issues and how you can help!
Trainings will be offered about once a month.
Date: Sunday May 19th
Time: 9:30- 10:30 AM
Location: South Wyoming United Methodist Church
Call (616) 206-4477 or email us at refugeesupportgr@hotmail.com for more information about any of these events.
VOLUNTEER POTLUCK AND "REFUGEE TALKS"- next session soon!
Come gather with other volunteers or potential volunteers, share stories and resources, and of course, FOOD! Bring your favorite dish to share with others. This event is being organized together with the West Michigan Refugee Education and Cultural Center, Bethany Christian Services, and Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. Volunteers and interested parties from all organizations are welcome to attend!
We will be having a series of potlucks together with Educational Topics. The next session will be listed soon.
We hope to see you there!
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Recent Events:
The Inaugural Barnstormer for Thrive music event took place on August 25- 26. This amazing event featured 12 local bands who donated their time to perform at The Barn. In addition to music, other talented people offered henna art from Avaeus Od Vrana, painting with Mrs. T., balloon art, fishing, and other activities! Special Thanks go to The Wheeler Family Foundation, LDT Construction, and Formula Automatic for sponsoring this event!
Also thank you to all the musicians:
Potato Moon
Hawks and Owls String Band and caller Jim
WaZoBia
Nicholas James and The Bandwagon
Hannah Rose and The End of the World Family Band
The Weatherheads
Strawberry Heritage
The Muteflutes
The Beanpoles
Thrive Refugee Choir
Susan Picking
Badenya Drum and Dance
Over the summer Thrive and Lutheran Social Services collaborated to host two Nutrition and Cooking classes to our refugee women. The first day focused on nutrition information and how to read lables at the grocery store, while the second day featured a trip to the Farmer's Market and a cooking class for healthy American- style food. The women especially enjoyed eating lunch the second day!!!
On March 31st, we gave the parents a break and had Refugee Kids' Fun Day! The kids were able to play games, do crafts, learn about computers, get their faces painted, and more! Thanks to all the extra volunteers who showed up to help with this event!
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Thrive was invited to the WYCE Jammies on February 14th, and collected non- perishable food items for our families, as well as a truck load full of clothing that was donated to a local resettlement program. Take a look at all the food that was collected!
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In
January and July we hosted Smile Dental Clinic to come to Thrive and check and
clean teeth for ALL of our refugee children who had not seen a dentist.
23 refugees were seen for the first time by an American Dentist in January, and about the same number were seen for the first time or had a second visit in July.
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On Nov. 22nd we had a celebration for Thrive's officially becoming a non- profit and for E.D. Jessica Gladden's 35th birthday party.
Three
bands played: Youz Guyz, The
Beanpoles and Badenya Drum and Dance at Stone House
Recording Studio. We had a great time, raised a lot of money for the program and gave away some excellent raffle prizes! Thanks for joining us for the celebration!
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Thrive's "Pre-clinic Clinic" to help prepare the paperwork for Justice for Our Neighbor's Legal Clinic. After one year refugees are required to change their legal status to legal permanent resident. Thrive helped 29 refugees fill out paperwork for themselves or their children, and sent them on to JFON for the meeting with the lawyers.
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Special Thanks to ToolSelect.com, Formula Automatic, LDT COnstruction Services and Home Inspection Services of Michigan for being business sponsors for the Hat Trick show!
David Olney and Sergio
Webb performed at the WYCE Hat Track show, with donations going to Thrive!
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Stride and Ride and Ride for Refuge Fundraisers - together we raised almost $3,000! Great job team!
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THRIVE OPENING EVENT took place on June 20th, 2011 - World Refugee Day. We celebrated the beginning of our agency with an evening of African Dance by Badenya
Drumming Ensemble and an introduction to our program. It was followed by the film
"Welcome to Shelbyville" and discussion hosted by Bethany Christian
Services.
Video and Photos:
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WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2011: The
Red Cross and other area refugee agencies hosted an event for
World Refugee Day on June 25th. Performers and speakers ran from 11am- 4pm and
many area agencies, including Thrive, had booths with information. We also had a craft booth with items from Kenya for sale! This event was a great success with about 300 people attending.
