Grant: I never really thought about (joining Soft Landing) too much. When I learned about that we were getting refugees and that I could do something it was kind of a no brainer. It seems obvious to me that you should help refugees, they seem like the kind of people who need help. It seems like a tough situation to be in and if there is something you can do, you should do it.

Hayley: (I wanted to help because) watching the news and seeing the human suffering that’s going on in various places in the world because of war or famine or oppression, and realizing that if I was born in a different place or time that could be me. And I have the ability to try and reach out and help, and with that ability comes a little bit of an obligation to do what you can, where you can.

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Grant Parker is an Education Masters student at UM and Hayley Wright is an RN at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. Both are IRC Mentors and English Language Learner teachers at Soft Landing Missoula.

Interview and photo by Elliott Natz