Iraqi and Syrian Guest Chefs at Caffe Dolce today!

Iraqi and Syrian chefs will partner with the chefs at Caffe Dolce to serve specialty dishes all day. You can also catch the famous Wow Falafel food stand on the patio! A portion of the sales of these dishes will go directly to the chefs. Grab your lunch or dinner at Caffe Dolce; you might want to make a reservation. This is going to be a truly delicious and special event!

Big Weekend Ahead: Can’t-Miss Events for Welcoming Week!

The final two events for Welcoming Week are here! Make sure you enjoy lunch or dinner at Caffe Dolce on Saturday to support our Iraqi and Syrian chefs. A portion of the proceeds from these featured dishes will benefit the families directly. Then, join us Sunday evening for a sneak peak of The New Neighbors Project. This documentary gives refugees the chance to tell stories from behind the camera. We are so excited to close Welcoming Week with such awesome events!

More information about the event at Caffe Dolce can be found here

More information about the New Neighbors Project film screening is here

See you there!

Poetry & Prose Reading and JRPC Film Screening on Thursday!

SLM and our partners have many more awesome events planned for the rest of Welcoming Week. Check out these events happening on Thursday 9/22!

Shakespeare & Co., 7 pm: Our Written Voices presents The Spoken Worlds of Central and Southwest Asia. People who have traveled to this region, and/or have a connection to this region will share poetry and prose. Presenters will share original poetry and prose or writings by those who have inspired them.

Roxy Theatre, 8 pm: Join the Jeanette Rankin Peace Center at the Roxy Theater at 8 p.m. to celebrate the UN International Day of Peace with the award-winning film, Rooted in Peace. This film features interviews with some of the world’s most intriguing thought leaders like David Lynch, Mairead Maguire, Pete Seeger, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many more.

Culture Quiz Night, Art Exhibit, and more: Welcoming Week Continues!

Welcoming Week’s exciting events continue this week! Check out the information below and be sure to stop by these events.

Monday, September 18, 7 pm: SALAM presents Culture Quiz night at the parish hall at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, 130 South 6th St. East, at 7 p.m. Meet, greet and compete in Missoula’s first Culture Quiz, sponsored by SALAM (Standing Alongside America’s Muslims). Test your knowledge of new Missoulians’ cultures in a Jeopardy-style trivia game, followed by potluck dessert and table games from Iraq, Syria and other countries in the region. Bring your friends and your favorite dessert dish!

Tuesday, September 19, 4 – 7 pm: Visit the Missoula Art Museum, 335 N. Pattee St, Missoula,  for the final showing of the Hmong culture exhibition, “From Flower Cloth to Story Cloth: Hmong Textiles in the MAM Collection.” Drinks and light snacks will be provided at 4 p.m., courtesy of The Good Food Store. Admission is free and families are welcome!

Wednesday, September 20, 6 – 7 pm: Gather at the Montana Women Vote office at 725 W Alder St #21 with other refugee resettlement supporters to call our government representatives. Soft Landing Missoula, the International Rescue Committee, Montana Women Vote, the Montana Human Rights Network and many other partner agencies around the state are joining together to call our government representatives to express our support for refugee resettlement.

If you can’t attend the call party, you can still contact your representatives from home! Read this post to see suggested scripting, phone numbers to call, and more. 

We hope to see you at these events!

Congolese Theatrical Performance is on Sunday!

he Congolese families return to the stage for their second theatrical production in Missoula! Come to the Sentinel High School Theatre from 3 – 5 p.m. to see their latest production that will focus on Congolese culture, music, and dance. There will be a Q&A with the performers following the play. Admission is free with a suggested donation to benefit the participating families.

For more information about this and other Welcoming Week activities, visit our website

Eritrean Coffee Ceremony is Saturday Morning!

We are SO excited for our first Welcoming Week event, the Eritrean Coffee Ceremony! Join us tomorrow morning at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 301 S. 6th St. W, from 9 am – 11 am. This traditional coffee ceremony involves hand-roasting, grinding of the beans, and brewing of strong coffee. Then, enjoy a delicious cup sitting in front of a traditional serving table! Come learn a bit more about Eritrean culture and get your coffee fix! Admission is free with a suggested donation to benefit the participating families.

For more information about this and other Welcoming Week events, visit our website

 


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Supporter Stories Exhibit Opens Saturday!


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Starting Saturday 9/16, you can visit the Mansfield Library to check out our Supporter Stories Exhibit for Welcoming Week. The individuals featured in this exhibit have been impacting our refugee families from the beginning. You may have seen some of them featured in our online series of Supporter Stories. Now, you can see them in person!

The exhibit is located on the Mansfield Library’s main floor, which is open from 7 am – 9 pm daily. It is free and family-friendly! Special thank you to the Mansfield Library team for their help with this event, to Elliott Natz for his amazing interviews, and to Jenn Prinzing for designing such a beautiful exhibit.

For more information about this and other Welcoming Week events, visit our website. The exhibit will close on Sunday 9/24.

 

Family-friendly celebration of Hmong American culture


Blia Lee, Flower Cloth, appliqué and embroidery, 1991, MAM Collection, Donated by Susan Lindbergh Miller in honor of Montana’s Hmong Community, 2011.

Blia Lee, Flower Cloth, appliqué and embroidery, 1991, MAM Collection, Donated by Susan Lindbergh Miller in honor of Montana’s Hmong Community, 2011.

Missoula Art Museum will host a series of events, including a family-friendly celebration of Hmong American culture on July 26 to coincide with the MAM exhibition, “From Flower Cloth to Story Cloth: Hmong Textiles in the MAM Collection,” on display through September 20th in the Carnegie Gallery. The event is free and open to the public. 

Guests are invited to tour the colorful exhibition and enjoy traditional dance performances by Annalysse Moua, Athena Moua, and Ntsailias Vang. Blong Vang will play the traditional qeej instrument and Mao Thao will sell her embroidery.  Food is available from the Hmong food truck, The Noodle Wagon. 

From Flower Cloth to Story Cloth marks the third time MAM has presented a significant exhibition of Hmong textiles.  Previous exhibitions were organized in 1978 to help Montanans better understand and appreciate the complexities of their new neighbors as they escaped persecution in Laos and resettled in Missoula.  Another major Hmong textile exhibition for MAM was co-curated in 1993 by Vee Kiatoukaysy, Tou Yang, and Susan Lindbergh Miller. The exhibition celebrates Missoula’s diversity and stands as an example of the significant Hmong American contributions to the Missoula community.  It is funded in part by First Interstate Bank and First Interstate BancSystem Foundation. 

For more information, please contact the Missoula Art Museum at 406.728.0447, visit the MAM website at www.missoulaartmuseum.org

Special Thanks to our World Refugee Cup Sponsors!

Soft Landing Missoula is so excited for our first annual World Refugee Day Cup this Saturday! We couldn’t have made such a wonderful event possible without the help of our sponsors. 

We would like to give a warm thank you to Eric and Blair Sprunk for donating fifty kids soccer balls for our families and to Andrea Perez for the five game balls! The Whizpops and Dejebe deserve another special shout-out for providing the fun music during dinner. Dinner would not have been possible without the generosity of the White Bears – thank you for providing such a delicious meal!

Thanks again to our sponsors and our participants! 


Join Us on 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.