World Refugee Day – More Than a Number

by Lauren McMinn Clarke, volunteer contributor

Every year, on June 20th, countless international civic groups, including the American Red Cross and the United Nations, celebrate World Refugee Day. This annual celebration honors refugees and displaced persons for their courage and resilience in the face of conflict and strife.

This year, the Restoring Family Links program of the American Red Cross is working with partners and members of the refugee community around the United States to celebrate World Refugee Day. The Restoring Family Links program works two ways; it initiates cases here in the United States to loved ones abroad, and it also connects displaced refugees overseas back to family members in the US. 

In Texas, we receive an average of 4,500 refugees per year. In fact, the North Texas region is the second busiest region in the United States for the Restoring Family Links program. The primary source of refugee cases coming to the Dallas area is from Iraq, because there is a large Iraqi population spanning the Metroplex. After that most cases to Dallas come from East Africa, from refugee complexes in Kenya and Uganda. 

Recently, our Dallas Red Cross team was able to reconnect a local family with a refugee family member in East Africa. After our volunteers did a great deal of internet research, tracking down addresses and phone numbers, the team reached out to the family in a local apartment complex via phone. The message wasn’t received, so our team went out in person to the address, donned in their Red Cross vests. After visiting the apartment, it was clear the family had moved. As our volunteers were leaving, the landscape staff of the complex stopped and asked why the Red Cross was there. When they heard, they led our staff to the complex office and found a new phone number for the family. The next day, our team was able to deliver a message from the cousin in Uganda to the family here in Dallas.

Are you interested in helping? We need volunteers. The Red Cross team appreciates volunteers with abilities that may include: an interest in interacting with people of different cultures, knowledge of current global events, ability to speak a different language and availability of time (because it is a very involved process).

If you are not already a Red Cross volunteer, please visit our website to sign up for a volunteer orientation and at the appropriate time, designate your interest in International Services and Restoring Family Links.

If you are interested in more information on our local Restoring Family Links program, please contact Alexis Chase at alexis.chase@redcross.org (Metro Field Specialist, Service to the Armed Forces and International Services), or Jack Wilson at jack.wilson@redcross.org (Assistant Director, Service to the Armed Forces and International Services).

Lastly, there is a local event being held this Saturday, June 21, 2014 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.) at which the American Red Cross will be in attendance. More information can be found here, http://www.catholiccharitiesdallas.org/world-refugee-day.

Tweet

Red Cross International Services: Finding Answers and Delivering Them

by George McCain, volunteer contributor 

People often seek answers, sometimes to the most profound questions in life. Sometimes people simply need an answer to a question, not profound but nonetheless deeply meaningful.  Colin Wood is a volunteer with the American Red Cross who helps bring answers to those asking some of the most important questions in life, like “Where is my family and are they alive?” Wood is a Volunteer Partner with ARC International Services. The University of North Texas student, majoring in International Studies, works on a daily basis reconnecting families who have been separated due to armed conflict, natural disaster or migration.  

"The Red Cross and Red Crescent are the only organizations that do this specifically," Wood said.  

Annually, the Red Cross assists more than 5,000 people reconnect with loved ones in the United States and around the world. "People may find themselves in a refugee situation such as a camp after fleeing armed conflict or a disaster," Wood added. The UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, facilitates refugees settling around the world including the United States.  Refugees need help in finding and connecting with loved ones.

Restoring Family Links (RFL) is the program whereby the Red Cross helps people get back in touch with families. Local Red Cross volunteers accomplish this by working with the Red Cross in other countries to effectively reconnect clients with their families. The Red Cross provides RFL services in three ways: 

• Tracing which helps find families and get word to them
• Red Cross Messages whereby the Red Cross or Red Crescent, independent of the government, delivers a message written by a family member
• Holocaust Tracing helping holocaust victims find family

Wood says volunteering with Red Cross International Services is fulfilling. “I am a part of so many cogs that have to move to make it work.” Helping people who have gone through horrifying experiences and seek closure through answered questions provides him with that sense of fulfillment.

“The movement is going to do so much good and provide that answer they haven’t been able to get.”

To learn more about our Red Cross International Services Restoring Family Links program, or to become a volunteer, visit us online at redcross.org. Watch a video of a reconnection made possible by RFL:

Tweet