Thank You To All!

A week ago, a team from Woodstock, delivered our truckload of household and personal care items to the Colchester office of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (VRRP).  This capped a two-month long process of publicity and the collection and sorting of hundreds of donations to help newly arrived refugees to settle in Vermont.

Norman, our driver!

Unloading in Colchester

In addition to the contents of the 20-foot U-Haul, area residents gave $1000 directly.  Many thanks to the scores of individuals who contributed--people of our region really stepped up to the plate to welcome those forced from their homes and homelands because of violence and oppression.  St. James leaders worked with members of the North Universalist Chapel Society, the Taftsville Mennonite Church, Congregation Shir Shalom and Our Lady of the Snows Roman Catholic Church and received donations from a cross-section of Woodstock and Upper Valley residents.

One of the Colchester volunteers said, “What an impact! Beautiful tables and chairs delivered today. We really needed pots and pans and we got quality ones.”

Happy faces in Colchester....

Another screening of the film, "Welcome to Vermont: Four Stories of Resettled Identities" will be scheduled in the future and the Woodstock group will meet soon to review the experience of these past weeks, and make plans for further projects to support refugees.