Big Win. Lots of Events.

by Adam Hendrickson

As we go through this tumultuous time, it is essential to count our wins and take stock of why these wins are so important.

For nearly seven months, Missoula has given an incredible welcome to almost 20 new families from Congo, Iraq, Eritrea, Syria, and Ethiopia. These families have begun to weave themselves into the fabric of our city and the lives of hundreds of Missoulians. They have enriched many of our churches and faith communities, added a global perspective to our public schools, entered our work force, and a few brave souls have even braved our local ski hill!

We have begun to hear the edges of some of their stories: talk of beautiful homes, serene countryside, University endeavors, family and neighbors, and shared food; stories that at times can sound a lot like the life we enjoy here in this cold, sleepy town. These wonderful memories are also colored by other, harder realities that include loss, injury, fear, persecution, and oppression; stories of long journeys on foot at night carrying children and the elderly, and the agony of who and what was left behind. Despite the struggle and suffering, there exists a common thread of perseverance, hope, determination, strength and beauty. 

For these new Missoula families, this is not where their stories stop, but where new ones begin. This is where their stories will add to the stories of all of our lives, and those of our children. 

With the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, Missoula will continue to participate in an American history that has already welcomed hundreds of newcomers to our town: a strong Hmong community as well as wonderful neighbors and co-workers form Belarus and the Ukraine. We will continue to be part of an America rooted in our ability to come together and offer hope and refuge to the vulnerable and persecuted; an America that believes we are at our best when we come from a place of compassion, generosity and opportunity for all; an America that invites diverse new neighbors to join us in building strong communities.  

This is no small thing. This privilege has been hard-won. So today, even with the uncertainties of tomorrow, we need to count our blessings and most certainly, count our wins.

– In love and gratitude, Mary Poole

Donations Needed Now

Our homepage features an ever-changing list of needed donations. Here’s the current list:
Pots and pans, especially larger sizes; Tea Kettles and Tea Pots; Baking sheets and other baking items; Bath mats; Floor rugs; Diapers and wipes (all sizes except infant); Quality Men’s and Women’s Shoes Computers, Phones, TVs and other technology (more on tech donations); CARS! We have a few written driver’s test graduates! Donations can be dropped off Monday – Thursday between 10 a.m. and Noon. If you need to arrange another time, please email donations@softlandingmissoula.org.

Volunteer Spotlight

We have three amazing interns from the University of Montana joining the ranks of Soft Landing Missoula this spring and winter. Read more!

Join Soft Landing at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

The 14th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival kicks off today, Friday, February 17, and Soft Landing Missoula is proud to be sponsoring a block of short films about political refugees. This block of five films touches on the subjects of global immigration, refugees, and asylum seekers, and screens twice during the festival: Monday, February 20 at 3 p.m. and Saturday, February 25, at 12:30 p.m. Screenings are at The Elks Lodge. Admission is $9 ($7 for students and seniors).

Refugee Crisis: A Discussion of Global Importance – February 23rd

Next week, the Montana World Affairs Council will host a community discussion featuring Hayley Smith, founder of Lifting Hands International. She will discuss the causes of the refugee crisis, the distinctions between refugees and immigrants, and share an intimate look at life inside of a refugee camp. Thursday, February 23, at 7:00 pm at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel. Register now.

Pint Night on March 1st

Wednesdays are Community UNite at the Northside Kettlehouse taproom, and March 1st is dedicated to Soft Landing Missoula. Enjoy a fresh beer on tap while supporting our organization! Kettlehouse Brewing Company will donate $.50 from every pint sold between 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. to Soft Landing Missoula, and we will have a table set up to answer questions. Mark your calendar and RSVP on the Facebook event page!

Eritrea: the Country, Culture, and Circumstance – March 8th

We are excited to bring you our third lecture in the Soft Landing Missoula Presents series. Join us on March 8th from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the UC Theater as we explore Eritrea: the Country, Culture, and Circumstance. Thanks so much to our wonderful sponsors: the African American Studies Program at the University of Montana, the UM Political Science Department, and Montana Model UN! Please RSVP on our Facebook event page! 

Summer Camps: Can you help?

Summer vacation is a wonderful and fun time of year, but as working parents know, finding safe and affordable activities for your school-aged children is no easy task. Soft Landing and the IRC will be working with each of our families to piece together free or reduced cost care for their kids. Do you have a connection to a summer camp or summer activity in Missoula? Can you help us negotiate a scholarship spot at this camp or activity? If you can help, please send an email to volunteer@softlandingmissoula.org.

Volunteer spotlight

by Adam Hendrickson


We have three amazing interns from the University of Montana joining the ranks of Soft Landing Missoula this spring and winter. Jessy is a graduate student, and Natalia and Samantha are undergrads. They each bring their own set up strong skills and interests, and we could not be happier to have them. Look for them at our office and at events. They are invaluable to the work we do and we are lucky to have them.

March 8th – Eritrea: the Country, Culture, and Circumstance

by Adam Hendrickson

We are excited to bring you our third lecture in the Soft Landing Missoula Presents series! We will present “Eritrea: the Country, Culture, and Circumstance” on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the University Center Theater, located on the 3rd floor of the University Center on the University of Montana (UM) campus.

Sponsored by UM’s African-American Studies Program, UM’s Political Science Department, and Montana Model UN, this presentation will feature two distinguished speakers: Kimberly A. Maynard, Ph.D. and Solomon M. Gofie, Ph.D., (see bios below) and will be followed by a Q&A period. These two amazing speakers will talk about everything from location, demographics and geography, to why people are leaving Eritrea and how. They will also discuss how can we do a great job at welcoming our new neighbors by knowing a little bit more about their culture and customs! We are really excited for this one!

Please RSVP to our Facebook event page! And, as a helpful tip, we recommend arriving to the University Center Theater (third floor) early as we have filled the space to capacity in past lectures.

Download the poster for the event – PDF.

—

Dr. Maynard’s journey has taken her from smoke jumping in Missoula to work in natural disasters and, ultimately, war zones. Her fieldwork includes 30 years as a practitioner in crisis management, conflict recovery, and peacebuilding. During 20 of these years, she worked in the Horn of Africa’s war-torn regions. She began by providing humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons and then went on to study the drivers behind forced migration and the means to transition from crisis to peace and renewal. Dr. Maynard holds a doctorate in International Affairs and has worked with the US Agency for International Development, the United Nations, the Red Cross, World Bank, and non-governmental organizations in conflict zones around the world. Dr. Maynard is currently UM’s Mansfield Fellow in International Affairs and works part time with USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives.

Dr. Gofie is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. His areas of research include state, society and human rights, migration and transnational involvement in the Horn of Africa, conflict resolution, citizenship and political communities in the Horn of Africa; he has recently published scholarly articles and book chapters on these topics. Dr. Gofie is currently a visiting adjunct faculty at UM’s Department of Political Science, teaching courses on human rights and politics in Africa.

Join us for pint night on March 1st

by Adam Hendrickson

Wednesdays are Community UNite at the Northside Kettlehouse taproom, and March 1st is dedicated to Soft Landing Missoula. Enjoy a fresh beer on tap while supporting our organization!

Kettlehouse Brewing Company will donate $.50 from every pint sold between 5pm-8pm to Soft Landing Missoula, and we will have a table set up to answer questions.

Mark your calendar and stay tuned on the Facebook event page!

February 25th – Short films about political refugees at Big Sky Doc Festival

by Adam Hendrickson

The 14th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival kicks off this Friday, February 17, and Soft Landing Missoula is proud to be sponsoring a block of short films about political refugees.

This block of five films touches on the subjects of global immigration, refugees, and asylum seekers, and screens twice during the festival: Monday, February 20 at 3 p.m. and Saturday, February 25, at 12:30 p.m. Screenings are at the Elks Lodge Theater (Stage 112) at 112 N. Pattee Street.. Admission is $9 ($7 for students and seniors). We hope you will join us next week for one of the screenings!

Here’s a trailer from The Resettled, one of the films featured.

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling

by Adam Hendrickson

We at Soft Landing Missoula are encouraged by yesterday’s unanimous ruling by a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ruling extends the freeze on President Trump’s executive order of Jan. 27 that had, among other things, banned all new refugee arrivals in the U.S. for at least four months, banned all Syrian refugees indefinitely and banned travel to the U.S. by nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The legal challenge of the President’s order is in its early stages, but the order does assure that refugees from all countries will continue to come to the United States for now–and that a fraction of those refugees will continue to come to Missoula.

The ruling also ensures a vigorous debate in the courts about whether the due process rights of refugees were violated by the order and whether the order violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments regarding religious discrimination and equal protection. 

Most importantly, however, the order underscores the importance of the rule of law in this country. The court firmly rejected the government’s argument that the Executive’s power, even in the areas of national security and immigration, is unreviewable. We remain a nation of laws.

Bottom line: We’re going to remain true to our values. With the invaluable service of the International Rescue Committee as our local resettlement agency–we will keep on welcoming refugees from around the world and helping them to integrate in our wonderful community and to thrive.

Hope and Perseverance.

by Adam Hendrickson

Highlights from our February 2, 2017, newsletter

Anyone else reeling after this week?  It has been a crazy one, full of challenges and unknowns, but also so so full of hope and perseverance. At the end of last week, we saw a historic Executive Order bring the hammer down on immigrants and refugees, followed by an even more historic response across the nation and worldwide (including hundreds of people who showed up last minute for a march through the streets of Missoula on Sunday) to the injustices this order imposes. For more of our thoughts on the order, please read our board’s statement. To take action now, read our post on 4 ways you can support refugees in Montana.

Even with all of the unknowns that this order brings (including, amazingly, getting two new families from Eritrea just last night!), we do know that our work continues: that Soft Landing Missoula is needed now more than ever, that you and all you do to support our work of making Missoula a welcoming and informed community where refugees can thrive is more important than ever. Thank you. 

As a way of continuing to understand our work on a longer time frame (which may be easy for those of you that have had the privilege of working with the previous groups of refugees that have graced our city), I want to share with you an email that I received last week. This email continues to bring me back, not only to Missoula’s amazing efforts, but also to what interacting with refugees and people of different cultures, religions and colors can mean to a person and the wealth it provides a community. This came to me from a Lutheran Pastor in East Boston and here is the heart of it: 

I just read the article about “Soft Landing Missoula”  in Christian Century. We have a shared experience so many miles and many years apart. Our church and a tiny community organization, the East Boston Ecumenical Community, started sponsoring Cambodian refugees in 1982. We started with four families finally totaling 125 Cambodian and Vietnamese. The tiny organization, East Boston Ecumenical Community Council (ebecc.org), grew rapidly until we were serving 1,500 immigrant and refugee families per year out of our 2,000-square-foot basement hall of our church. East Boston was one of Boston’s white ethnic enclaves and racism was pretty intense. It was less than a decade after the end of the wars in SE Asia. We had to learn social service, mental health, civil rights advocacy, family support, youth work, how to teach ESL and more on the job! It was a wild, wonderful adventurous time!

The first family consisted of a 42-year-old Cambodian woman, her 16-year-old daughter, and her mother. Meing Lon lost her husband and five of her six children to the Khmer Rouge violence. One year after their arrival, the families made a Cambodian language banner for the church. It said “Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth.” It hangs in the highest place and has been there since 1983. Meing Lon and I grew close. She was willing to share some of the stories. She was and is a wise and strong person. I swear that in my dying moments I will think of her as the most important person I met in nearly 40 years of ministry. “

So through this tough time I raise my glass to you, to those who have pioneered this work before us, and to the families that will undeniably be some of the most important people we meet in our years on this planet.

– In love and gratitude, Mary Poole

P.S. Check out our new frequently updated Donations Needed Now list on the homepage of our website and let us know if you can fill these needs!

P.S. If you read the Missoulian op/ed comments: No, I am not leaving, it’s a rumor!  You are stuck with me. 😉

What the Executive Order Means for Refugees

Learn what’s in the Executive Order and what you can do now to support refugees. Read more.

Act Now: SB 97

Currently SB 97 is being considered by the Montana Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill is aimed at banning “Foreign Law” and is widely known to be specifically referring to “Shariah Law”. We already have this protection in the Constitution of the United States. Please write to members of the committee, even if they aren’t your representative, to urge them to vote NO on this bill. Act now.

Equip Refugee Families with Your Old Technology

Have you upgraded to a better Wi-Fi router, smartphone, computer, TV, DVD player, or micro-SD card? If your old technology still works, these families could make good use of it to be connected, or to make use of English-learning resources. Make a difference by donating it today! Details on what we need and how to donate.

Summer camps

by Adam Hendrickson

Summer vacation is a wonderful and fun time of year, but as working parents know, finding safe and affordable activities for your school-aged children is no easy task. We already have more than a dozen kids from our refugee families in school now, with many more expected before the end of the school year. Each family will need help finding care for their children this summer when school is out.

Do you have a connection to a summer camp or summer activity in Missoula?

Can you help us negotiate a scholarship spot at this camp or activity?

Soft Landing and the IRC will be working with each family to piece together free or reduced cost care for their kids.  If you can help, please send an email to volunteer@softlandingmissoula.org.

Take action to support refugees in Montana

by Adam Hendrickson


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We are still sifting though all of the “Action Items” we have seen come our way and have decided to focus mainly on what we can do to show support for refugees to our Montana elected officials. They need to hear from us.

They need to know that resettlement is something that we value in our community–something that is not only an important opportunity for our state to participate in the very American value of welcoming those in need, but that has also brought so much richness and vibrancy to our lives and the fabric of our city.  So we are asking 4 things of you:

  1. Please contact Senators Daines and Tester and let them know you support welcoming refugees to Missoula. Calls are best made to their local offices: Sen. Tester – (406) 728-3003 (Missoula) and Sen. Daines – (406) 549-8198 (Missoula)
  2. Stop in our office and fill out a couple of Soft Landing Missoula post cards and send them directly to these offices. We have heard that post cards may be the most effective way to get the message there…Make sure you add a “thank you” in Tester’s note for his statement.
  3. Please sign this petition that we will also be sending their way.
  4. Please voice your opposition to SB 97. Please write to members of the committee, even if they aren’t your representative, to urge them to vote NO on this bill.

Thank you Missoula!

What Does the Executive Order Mean for Refugees?

by Adam Hendrickson

What is in the Executive Order:

1) A four month pause in the refugee program: From our understanding, this means we will have no arrivals through at least the end of May. Many refugees who were scheduled to arrive on Friday, January 27, have already been detained and their status is being discussed. All additional refugees scheduled for arrival in the coming weeks have had their flights cancelled.

2) A cut in the refugee ceiling from the proposed 110,000 to 50,000 arrivals: Originally, President Obama had planned to accept 110,000 refugees this fiscal year, with many arriving from Syria. This new action will cut that number by more than half and lower it to numbers not seen since 2002. The U.S. has already welcomed over 30,000 refugees for 2017 (the fiscal year begins in October), leaving only 20,000 more refugees who would be able to arrive this year between June 1 and September 30.

3) Bans on arrivals from Syria for the refugee program: Syrians are barred from the refugee program until the President decides the Refugee Admission Program “aligns with the national interest.” Waivers may be granted for persons who can show that they are members of “persecuted religious minorities”. We will update everyone once we know more about further bans.

4) Visa bans for Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen: This does not affect refugees. The order bans visas for nationals from these countries for 90 days, although the ban may be extended.

What still needs clarification:

* Family reunification: Many of the refugees who are currently in the United States from Syria, Iran, and other “banned” countries are waiting to be reunited with family members who are still in danger in their home countries. We are currently unsure if those seeking reunification will also be banned from arrival after the pause is lifted.

* What about persons scheduled for arrival?: From what we can tell, persons already in the pipeline will be able to be resettled after the four month pause is lifted. Those who were previously scheduled for arrival will likely need to re-do their medical screenings, which could take additional weeks or months before they can be rescheduled for arrival. We are unsure if currently-approved Syrian cases will be able to be rescheduled in the future.

* Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs): SIV holders from Iraq and Afghanistan are men and women who have previously served with our Armed Forces during the wars in the region. We are currently unsure if this program is also included with the bans on Iraqi arrivals. However, early reports state that some of those who have been detained are members of this program.

* What about deportation? We DO NOT expect any refugees currently in the country to face deportation. All refugees currently in the U.S. have arrived legally and were thoroughly vetted before arrival. HOWEVER – many lawyers’ associations are strongly suggesting that those with visas and even greencards from affected countries do not travel outside the U.S. while we await clarification on this order.

For more details, please download the American Immigration Council’s summary and analysis (PDF) of the Executive Order. Because there are a number of unanswered questions, stay tuned for new developments.

Soft Landing Missoula’s Statement:

On Friday, January 27, we issued this statement regarding the executive order.

What You Can Do:

  • Contact President Trump and the White House. Click on Four Easy Steps to Show Support for Refugees from the Coalition of Refugee Service Agencies and take action now.
  • Help your new American friends, clients, and family members understand what this order means. Refugee Center Online has explanations in English and 11 other languages to help refugees understand how this may affect them.
  • Share your passion with your friends and family. President Trump believes he is doing what his supporters, and his country, most desire. Be sure your friends and family are also showing their support for #RefugeesWelcome.
  • Come to Soft Landing Missoula and send postcards to Senators Tester and Daines. We have post cards available in our office at 939 Stephens Ave Suite C for you to fill out for the Senators. Please write to show your support of refugees and resettlement in our country and our city. Senator Tester did issue this statement so please add a thank you on his note as well. Stop by anytime Monday-Thursday 9:30-3 and Friday 10-12. Feel free to take a couple of postcards to your friends and family!
  • Call our State Elected officials and let them know you support refugees in the great State of Montana.
        â€˘    Rep. Zinke – (202) 225-3211; Local (406) 540-4370.
        â€˘    Sen. Tester – (202) 224-2644; Local (406) 728-3003.
        â€˘    Sen. Daines – (202) 224-2651; Local (406) 549-8198

*Much of this text in this post and inspiration for action was adapted from New American Pathways.