When the first Afghan refugees arrived in Joplin in the fall of 2021, the Noel, Missouri based non-profit resettlement agency RAISE had six part-time employees to help 50 people relocate.
Today the staff has increased to 20 part-time staff working between their Noel and Joplin offices, assisting 108 Afghan refugees currently residing in Joplin. Saturday morning, RAISE, in collaboration with theJoplin Interfaith Coalition, held a public meeting to plan and share ideas to better assist future refugees arriving in Joplin. J
John Anderson, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Joplin, helped a ten-member family when they were relocated to Joplin. He also helped them move a second time to San Diego, California.
“I mentioned during the panel that our family, after about 11 months here, decided to move to be closer to relatives in San Diego, and it was not a decision that was made light-heartedly. I mean, we sat around, all of us, the family, and the welcome team, and we cried about it because we had grown so close, and we knew this would be a new challenge for them but a new opportunity. There were tears of joy, sadness, and hope.”
RAISE officials say that as many as 70 refugees from the Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, and Afghanistan are expected to be relocated to southwest Missouri later this year.
