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How Your Gift Helps
Imagine waking up in a war-torn country
and being forced to flee your home with only what you can carry-leaving
other family members, your job, your financial resources and personal
possessions-virtually everything that has been your life.
Tragically, this is the experience of thousands
of people every year. Some are fortunate to be resettled
in the United States. Others make their own way here with inadequate
documents, seeking safety and asylum.
LIRS saves lives! We provide aid
and assistance, resettlement and support services, education and advocacy,
and funding of legal and social service projects that work directly
with asylum seekers and other vulnerable immigrants. The goal in all
cases is to help newcomers be safe, free and self-sufficient. Your
gift to LIRS sustains our vital work!
Here's where your money will go:
The Friends of Refugees Fund
provides funds to help newcomers respond to unanticipated emergencies
and supports LIRS services and advocacy efforts on behalf of the most
vulnerable. Recent examples include funds to assist with relocation
after a fire destroyed a refugee family's apartment, a small grant
to supplement other funding for living expenses during recovery from
reconstructive surgery for injuries that a refugee sustained during
the Afghan civil war, and funding for advocacy efforts surrounding
U.S. detention policies.
The Good Samaritan Fund, formerly
known as the Bernthal Fund for Congregational Involvement, helps Lutheran
churches develop services for refugees and immigrants beyond the resettlement
phase.
The LIRS Heritage of America Fund
is an endowment fund that allows the agency to champion
the cause of hundreds of thousands more newcomers to America
in decades to come. Learn more about
how you can help secure a strong future for those seeking safety
and freedom.
Other Current Needs—LIRS will use these
funds to meet current critical needs including these recent examples:
- Translation services and information about legal
rights for bona fide asylum seekers who are detained by the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, 90 percent of whom have
no legal counsel.
- Advocacy and guidance for unaccompanied children
held in immigration detention while they seek asylum and freedom.
LIRS helps arrange foster care placements when children are granted
asylum.
Donate online now.
Page updated March 12, 2003.
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