Welcome Family Partnership

Embrace a recently arrived refugee family and walk alongside them for three months. Welcome Partnerships have not only made a significant difference in refugee families and their adjustment and assimilation to life in America, but they have also brought transformation to many Bible Study groups, Sunday School classes, and entire congregations too!

Attend a training, help agency set up apartment, greet the family at the airport when they first arrive in America, visit and build a relationship with your refugee family offering them your faithful friendship and loving support to help make their transition to American life smooth. (3 month commitment)

Welcome Baby Partnership

A group of women can embrace a refugee mom expecting her first American-born baby! There are many refugee mothers in Tucson who don’t have their sisters or mothers or aunts or grandmas here to help and support them in their pregnancy. They need help understanding the “system”, where to go for help, how to get needed supplies, but mostly they just need a friend.

Attend a training, go with a TRM representative to meet your refugee mama, make regular visits to their home, help them get to doctor appointments, show them where the diaper banks are, arrange a tour at the hospital where she will give birth, throw a baby shower, be a faithful friend and help this mother-to-be feel loved and cared for in the days leading up to the baby. (3 month commitment)

We will also assign you a TRM representative who will mentor you through the process and answer questions as you go and provide support in your new cross-cultural relationship.

  • STEP 1: INTRO PRESENTATION

    When invited, a TRM representative gives an introductory presentation to a church or small group of people who are considering reaching out to refugees.

  • Step 2: TRAINING

    The first step in becoming a volunteer is to attend both a Refugee 101 Info Night and 201 Info Night. Every member of your group needs to attend the training if you are considering doing a Welcome Partnership.  The training can also be viewed online, but is best done in community.

  • Step 3: ORGANIZE

    Welcome Partnership groups choose a point person to facilitate communication.  Every volunteer does an online background check, or in some cases a fingerprint check.  The team schedules all the visits for three months (including date for arrival and milestone party).  An e-mail or chain or a private Facebook group is established to aid in communication.

  • Step 4: SET UP

    Members begin to collect furniture an orther items. Group members communitcate with a TRM or agency representative to set up their refugee family’s apartment.

  • Step 5: PARTNERSHIP PACKET

    The agency calls TRM and/or the group when they know that there is a family who will be arriving soon. The point person meets with a TRM representative and/or an agency staff person to sign papers and go over the “partnership packet”, and at this point the group learns a little about the family.

  • Step 6: ARRIVAL

    Group members head out to the airport and greet the new family as they arrive… bringing signs, flags, balloons or flowers to help welcome them. The case manager from the agency will be there as well, and can usually help with translation if needed.

  • Step 7: WALKING ALONGSIDE

    The first three months are an important time when the refugee family may need more support and attention, particularly the first 30 days. It is also a time when the refugee resettlement agency works hard to connect them with core services. Encourage everyone in your group to make visits to this family to help them feel welcome and supported.

  • Step 8: MILESTONE PARTY

    At the end of three months, the official partnership is over, and you could have a “milestone party” and celebrate. You could meet together and celebrate all that they have learned and accomplished. Ideally, your relationship with the family continues, but will be defined differently as the group graduates from “volunteer” status to “friend” status.

  • Step 1: INTRO PRESENTATION

    When invited, a TRM representative gives an introductory presentation to a church or small group of people who are considering reaching out to refugees.

  • Step 2: TRAINING

    The first step in becoming a volunteer is to attend both a Refugee 101 Info Night and 201 Info Night. Every member of your group needs to attend the training if you are considering doing a Welcome Partnership.  The training can also be viewed online, but is best done in community.

  • Step 3: ORGANIZE

    Welcome Partnership groups choose a point person to facilitate communication.  Every volunteer does an online background check, or in some cases a fingerprint check.

  • Step 4: VISIT

    At least two people from your group goes with a TRM volunteer or agency representative and visits the mother-to-be and introduces yourself as a friendly face. Get to know the mother, find out when baby is due, get a list of items needed, set the date for the shower, and figure out how to invite her friends.

  • Step 5: INVITE & SCHEDULE

    Contact friends from church, your Sunday School class, and your family in order to surround the mother with lots of other women to love and support her. The team schedules all the visits for three months. An e-mail or chain or a private Facebook group is established to aid in communication.

  • Step 6: PLAN

    Please plan the shower at someone’s home.  Our international friends are not often invited to an American home, and it is such an honor for them to be welcomed that way. Consider joining together to meet at least one of the biggest and most immediate needs for the baby shower (car seat, stroller, or crib).  Please no used items at the baby shower.

  • Step 7: WALKING ALONGSIDE

    Encourage everyone in your group to make visits to this expecting mama before and after the baby shower.  There are a number of others ways you can help her.  You could accompany her to her doctor appointments, schedule a tour at the hospital, show her where the diaper banks are in Tucson, help her sign up for WIC, or just enjoy sipping a cup of tea together.

  • Step 8: MILESTONE PARTY

    At the end of three months, the official partnership is over, and you could have a “milestone party” and celebrate.  Ideally, your relationship with the family continues, but will be defined differently as the group graduates from “volunteer” status to “friend” status.