Ministry Spotlight: Being Good Neighbors

As we continue to explore how God is calling us to be good neighbors to the refugee community nearby, on June 3rd a group of 30 folks from St. Andrews traveled to Clarkston to learn more about our neighbors. Grant Haynes, of Global Frontier Missions, led us on our tour of the residences and community resources used by new refugees. Brian Bollinger, of Friends of Refugees (FoR), showed us the Jolly Avenue community garden and shared the exciting programs FoR offers to help support refugees as they settle and then seek independence. We ended our time with a delicious meal at Kathmandu Nepalese Kitchen in Clarkston. Thanks to Drew and Kim Tomberlin for that recommendation!

Some interesting facts we learned about the Clarkston community and the programs there during our time together:

* There are 7000 people per square mile in the city

* It is walkable for over 10,000 people living below the poverty line

* Of the 20,000 residents in Clarkston, 13,000 were born outside the United States

* Friends of Refugees bought a drug house and converted it into the Peace Growers headquarters

* The Community Garden greenhouse is made from glass used for Jaguar trade shows and was headed to the landfill before it got repurposed.

We’re not quite sure yet which of these, or other, organizations we might enter a formal partnership with. But we don’t have to wait for a formal partnership to connect with these communities. Stay tuned for information from the mission ministry about ways we can help, such as painting and moving FoR headquarters, building a bus shelter at the community garden, and monthly lunch bunch outings to visit refugee and immigrant run restaurants. For more information contact Kim Rometo or Joshua Price.