When the Rev. Victor H. Floyd traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with a group from Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, he was prepared to encounter a lot of pain in refugees they would meet in U.S. detention facilities and migrant shelters in Tijuana.
He wasn’t prepared for Petter.
Presbyterian Mandy Manning, in Spokane, Washington, admits she’s “a little tired” of the attention she’s received this year as National Teacher of the Year, but it’s also been a welcome opportunity for her to share her students’ stories. Manning was awarded the title in April by the Council of Chief School State Officers. The honor was first awarded in 1952 and continues as the oldest, most prestigious national honor that focuses public attention on excellence in teaching.
Next to the entrance of Lucy Janijigian’s apartment is a drawing that her granddaughter made. It depicts Janjigian, her granddaughter and the words “My grandmother helps orphans in Armenia. She inspires me to hep other people.” Her granddaughter has pigtails. Janjigian has a superhero cape.
Next to the entrance of Lucy Janjigian’s apartment is a drawing that her granddaughter made. It depicts Janjigian, her granddaughter and the words “My grandmother helps orphans in Armenia. She inspires me to help other people.” Her granddaughter has pigtails. Janjigian has a superhero cape. In real life, Janjigian is a bit of a superhero.
“I call it the holy place,” said Sultan,* a young man from Eritrea who came to St. Andrew’s Refugee Services (StARS) hoping to access education through the Unaccompanied Youth Bridging Program, a specialized initiative designed to assist young refugees in Egypt without a parent or guardian. Since he was here with his family, he was ineligible to enroll. But he was persistent, eventually landing a job as a teaching assistant in the program. Over the years, he has become a leader among the staff at StARS and now works as a program assistant in the Refugee Legal Aid Program, and as a StARS ambassador, meeting with visitors and planning events.
First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York is hosting a two-day symposium on the challenges facing LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers. The church, working alongside several ministries within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), will host the gathering entitled “Love Welcome,” October 20-21.
Noor arrived in Europe with two young children and without her husband. She had left her home in Aleppo, Syria, two years earlier because conditions in the war-torn country had made it impossible to live there. Her family felt they had no other choice. During her passage across tSyrihe Mediterranean Sea, the boat she was on sank with her young children and a group of other migrants. Noor had trained for years as a swimmer so she was strong enough to stay afloat and keep her children safe until they were rescued. But she had tears in her eyes as she remembered one mother who screamed repeatedly for her lost baby.
The small town of Lebanon (pop. 5,800) sits 70 miles southeast of Louisville in the heart of central Kentucky. Surrounded by lush farmland, the area is known as a hub for bluegrass music, manufacturing facilities and bourbon production. It’s also home to United Presbyterian Church, which hosted a prayer service last Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on refugees and immigration.
The Presbytery of New York City, in solidarity with Rutgers Presbyterian Church and its partners assisting in the resettlement of Syrian refugees, approved a resolution yesterday “protest[ing] the deeply flawed, un-American and immoral Executive Order aimed against refugees of the Muslim faith.”
This afternoon, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), issued a statement opposing President Trump’s executive action on immigration.
