Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance & Immigration Services helps settle new arrivals in Alaska. Graphics from Pixabay and Tressa Wood of The Northern Light.
Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services had a busy week in the days approaching World Refugee Day. I attended World Refugee Day Lunch and Learn on June 20.
Members of the community were invited via email to come to the Lunch and Learn at the Refugee Assistant and Immigration Service’s Welcome Center on San Roberto Avenue. For the cost of a $25 ticket, attendees were treated to a lunch of Ukrainian food catered by Angela-Bakery Gulchuk. The cook, Angela Gulchuk is a Ukrainian who passed through RAIS only months before. The talk afterward was led by Alaska State Refugee Coordinator Issa Spatrisano.
The lunch menu was a treat: Cabbage rolls, borscht, homemade bread, dessert crepes, and a berry juice. The borscht was a lighter version of what many were expecting. The woman next to me apologized to those of us around her, “I don’t normally drink from styrofoam bowls, but I love this borscht broth!” As she lifted her bowl to her lips, several of us followed her lead.
Gulchuk made 3-inch triangular cabbage rolls that were pop-in-your-mouth light. The crepes were filled with either chocolate or a jam filling, rolled, and cut into bite size servings.
The guests were members of the Anchorage community. After we all chatted for a half an hour, Spatrisano addressed the group, discussing the history of RAIS and more importantly, where it is going.
Before the pandemic, RAIS brought in an average of 130 new arrivals per year. During the pandemic, they brought in less than 100 new arrivals each year. In 2022, they brought in 497 individuals. Now at the end of June in 2023, they have brought in 327 people, ages ranging from newborns to over 65 years of age.
Those coming in have many different statuses. There are U.S. refugees, U.S. Born Refugees, Asylees, Afghan Humanitarian Paroles, Cuban Haitian Entrants, etc.
Someone from the audience asked about this, sharing their concern about “parole,” and Spatrisano said that the designations were legal terms. A parole is someone who is not on the path to citizenship but who intends to return to their country when the hostilities stop.
Spatrisano discussed the current caseload of RAIS and of a new program that lets American citizens help sponsor and bring people over. In January 2023, she said that the U.S. Department of State, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, launched “The Welcome Corps.” She said the Welcome Corps utilizes sponsor’s understanding of their own communities.
RAIS once knew when every refugee was coming into Anchorage, and they knew in which neighborhoods they would live and what schools they would attend. With sponsors through Welcome Corps taking on more of the responsibilities of picking them up from the airport and helping them find housing and schooling, RAIS is more likely to find out after they have arrived.
Oftentimes the new arrivals settle near their sponsor’s homes and attend schools in those areas. They don’t all stay in Anchorage either. Spatrisano said that depending on where their sponsors reside, they go to communities all over Alaska.
RAIS is a resource that helps schools learn how to teach their new arrivals. They sponsor work fairs and get their clients out into the community so they can support themselves. RAIS has language classes for new arrivals. They are a hub that helps new arrivals connect to their new communities.
Spatrisano concluded the talk with five ways to participate in World Refugee Day and how to help refugees all year: donate, volunteer, advocate, support and attend.
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