Bridge Refugee Services Campaign
Bridge Refugee Services is the agency responsible for refugees who are resettled in East Tennessee with offices in Knoxville and Chattanooga. Refugees are approved to enter the US legally after months of vetting by the US State Department and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Most have been living in refugee camps, having left their home countries due to war or other disasters. Most recent refugees are from Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. Our government loans them money for transportation to their new home in the US, and they or their sponsors pay it back.
When refugees arrive in the US they may receive funds for housing, utilities and food for a few months while they work with their sponsoring agency to find a job, take English classes, and become part of their new community. They don’t have a drivers’ license or a car at first, so Bridge helps with rides to the grocery store, job interviews, doctor’s appointments, and so forth. Most refugees don’t expect to return to their country of origin because it’s just not feasible. Most of them hope to become US citizens and become a part of their new country and community.
Erin Presbyterian has sponsored two refugee families through Bridge: in the 1980s we sponsored a family from Russia, and in the early 2000s we sponsored a mom and her four children from Liberia. They all still live in Knoxville and are doing well.
A January 20 Presidential Executive Order suspended the United States Refugee Admissions Program, and on January 28 all federal grants to Bridge and other refugee resettlement nonprofits were suspended. These actions canceled already-booked travel plans for a number of families and halted funding for all refugee services.
Bridge is now without the money to pay for the work they do to support the families who arrived here recently. They have numerous volunteers, but without the infrastructure or basic funding, they can’t provide the much-needed services.
In response to this funding crisis, First Presbyterian Church, through an endowment, is matching all donations they receive up to $50,000 for Bridge Refugee Services.
Erin affirms the importance of the US refugee program, and the courage, character, and dedication of the refugees we have supported. They have become citizens, opened successful businesses, put their children through college, and become a vital part of their communities.