Special thank you to our sponsors for World Refugee Day!
OK, you have heard us talking about it for a couple months now, but registration is now open for our First Annual World Refugee Day Cup Soccer Tournament! World Refugee Day is celebrated every year on June 20th. Our soccer tournament on June 17th, will honor the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.
The Missoula community has stepped up to welcome more than 20 families in the last year and make Missoula a welcoming place that refugees can call home. Soft Landing Missoula is excited to celebrate the addition of these families to our community with a soccer tournament and community party. As we have said, if we have noticed anything about universal ways to bring people together, it is food, music, and soccer–and this event will have all 3! You don’t have to be part of the soccer tourney to come out and enjoy the community celebration following the event–it will be a blast! Get the details and register now.
If you can’t wait that long to see us, we will be participating in the June 2nd, First Friday to showcase the amazing project that so many of you are loving, With Open Arms: Stories about Helping Refugees in Missoula, that shows the impact that working with refugees has had on some of our volunteers’ lives.
See you there!
Mary Poole
Register Now! First Annual Missoula World Refugee Day Cup
Held at the new fields and pavilion at Fort Missoula Regional Park, this will be a 7v7 round-robin tourney with at least 2 games guaranteed. There will also be a kids game and kids activities. Tourney kicks off at 9 a.m. with the final match at 4 p.m. followed by dinner and music by the WhizPops! More details and registration.
Join Us at First Friday in June
For the June First Friday event on June 2nd, we will be exhibiting the photos and stories from our digital story project, With Open Arms: Stories About Helping Refugees in Missoula. The project sought to bring attention to those in our community working to help refugees find a comfortable life in Missoula. Some volunteers will be present to discuss with visitors more in-depth their experiences working with refugees from around the world. The show will be presented next to Radius Gallery in their annex hallways from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Radius Gallery is located at 114 E Main St. in downtown Missoula. It is a half block east of Higgins on Main.
Support the New Neighbors Project
This is an amazing project! Here’s their description from their Kickstarter campaign, “In 2016, Montana opened its doors to refugees for the first time this century. The New Neighbors Project explores the relationship between new refugee arrivals and long-time Montanans through a tapestry of self-directed first person stories.” Having raised more than $21,000 so far, this team needs to raise a little over $8,000 by this Thursday, May 25th, for the project to be funded. Learn more and donate now!
Volunteer Spotlight: John Gage and Anna Tucker
We are so thankful for John Gage and Anna Tucker (and their trucks) for all their help recently with collecting furniture and home set ups. It’s not the glamorous work, but so important in supporting our incoming families. Thank you for your flexibility, strength and humor. If you want to be like John and Anna and join our brand new Home Set Up Team, please email volunteer@softlandingmissoula.org.
Summer Pack Supplies Needed
We are putting together Summer Packs to send home with each school-aged refugee child at the end of the school year. We will provide them with age appropriate books (thanks to the Mansfield Library) for summer reading and information on where to find free activities and meals around town. We also love to include pens, pencils, markers, notebooks, coloring books, puzzle books and practice math and writing books for all ages. Please consider donating some of those items!
Items needed by June 2. To donate, bring the items to our office: 939 Stephens Avenue, Suite C, in Missoula. Thank you!