Wow! What a wild year. Back in June 2021, a few of us were setting up our new office in Durham for what was then a team of about 16 people. I remember this sense of excitement amongst the team as we knew that change was on the horizon, but we didn’t know exactly when or what that growth would look like – the situation was very much, “hurry up and wait.”  

Just a couple of short months later, Kabul fell to the Taliban, and we spent the next several months in crisis-response mode. We hired rapidly – more than doubling in size over the next six months - and our newest team members joined the CWS veterans to meet the moment. As I reflect on this crisis, what will always stand out to me is the incredible way our community responded to this pivotal time in our nation’s history. With your help and the support of hundreds of volunteers across the state, we secured refuge for over 400 of our Afghan allies in NC.  

Audrey is a member of Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, a local congregation with a long history of support for refugees with CWS Durham. Members of ERUUF answered our calls for help in the fall of 2021 at the beginning of the Afghan evacuation and became one of CWS Durham's first Community Sponsorship groups. Audrey shared about her experience as part of an ERUUF team serving a recently arrived family:

There was no way to measure the soulful connection that we were gonna make with these human beings, and they are truly spectacular human beings. What they've experienced and seen has become a real beacon for me in terms of how I live my own life and how I put things in perspective.

German joined our CWS Durham team in the Spring of 2021 following a fully remote, senior year internship with our Greensboro office. In his first role, German worked with hundreds of Durham residents seeking financial assistance from the City of Durham's pandemic related Emergency Rental Assistance Program. After the city ended their rental assistance program, German transitioned to his current role of Migrant Services Coordinator. Here is how German describes his work with undocumented immigrants across North Carolina:

We (CWS Durham) are primarily recognized for the refugee resettlement work that we do, but we also have a focus on helping immigrants. In North Carolina, we see a huge need for immigrants, and most of the time they're undocumented. These programs like the NC-ISF and the welcome program serve as a little bit of hope for them. Immigrants have a hard time accessing certain resources in the community, maybe because of their legal status or because the fear of getting their name involved with a governmental agency and potentially putting their situation here at risk. So, we recognize that there's a need from the community to access resources that are culturally appropriate, that are responsive, and that are confidential more than anything.