Refugee Resettlement Program

“You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:19

What is TBA’s Refugee Resettlement Program?

TBA, through its Tikkun Olam Committee, has joined Montgomery County Interfaith Refugee Resettlement Neighbors (MCIRRN), an interfaith coalition of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim congregations assisting about 16 refugee families who have settled in the DC metropolitan area. These families are from several countries, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, and Colombia.

We are currently assisting four refugee families — three Syrian and one Colombian. (The families include 4 to 6 people each.) We are working alongside two Catholic churches — St. Rose of Lima in Gaithersburg and St. Francis of Assisi in Derwood —and with the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg.

We are helping these families by tutoring them to improve their English language skills, arranging medical and dental care, delivering food, helping the children with their studies and serving as liaisons with their schools, exploring opportunities for job training and employment, and more. Our assistance will vary as the families become more settled and their needs change.

We assist other MCIRRN-affiliated families as needed and likely will work with additional families in the future.

Contact Information

Sherry Nason, Gail Roe, and Ron Lobel are co-chairing TBA’s Refugee Resettlement Program. Contact them or Mark Joffe for more information. To be added to our email list or to volunteer, contact Gail Roe. Thank you for your interest in and support of this effort!

How Can I Help?
- Most transportation needs are for doctors’ appointments. We maintain a list of volunteers who have offered to help. As the need arises, we put out a request to see who can be available on a given date and time. Transportation needs frequently arise during the workweek. Three of the refugee families that we are assisting live in Prince George’s County and one family lives in Montgomery County.
- English tutoring. Volunteers work with family members to help them learn English. Our goal is to develop a curriculum that meets the needs of the individual refugees. Most tutoring has occurred in the refugees’ homes in Prince George’s County. We are in the process of trying to offer exploring additional tutoring through online software, such as Skype or Zoom.
- Tutoring children in school subjects. The children of the refugee families frequently need tutoring related to their school subjects. This tutoring can occur on weekends.
- Medical professionals. We occasionally need the assistance of physicians, dentists, mental health professionals, and nurses to consult on medical issues as well as to periodically provide health services. Let us know if you have a specialty and if you would like to be contacted when the need arises.
- Assistance with employment opportunities. We are helping families prepare resumes and look for employment opportunities. If you are aware of specific job availabilities, please contact Harry Hertz (hertzhandf@gmail.com).
- Volunteers with knowledge and experience in public benefits such as Medicaid and SNAP benefits would be helpful. Expertise in the area of budgeting, finances, and tax law would be beneficial as well.
- Explore housing opportunities. All but one of the refugee families we are assisting live in Prince George’s County, primarily because the rent is less expensive than in Montgomery County. Montgomery County generally offers better employment opportunities and services than Prince George’s County, however. Long-term, we want to identify affordable housing opportunities in Montgomery County for families that would want to move.
- Social outings. Organize trips to parks, museums, and other fun excursions for individual families.
Contact Information
Sherry Nason, Gail Roe, and Ron Lobel are co-chairing TBA’s Refugee Resettlement Program. Contact them or Mark Joffe for more information. To be added to our email list or to volunteer, contact Gail Roe. Thank you for your interest in and support of this effort!

Other Opportunities to Assist
- Gift cards. We periodically give Target or Walmart gift cards to the families we are assisting or use them to purchase specific items that a family needs. Please place donations of gift cards in the designated jar in the Temple office.
- Laptop computers. We collect laptop computers with Wi-Fi capability for the families. If you have one to donate, please contact Rich Luxenberg at ral@woodbournesolutions.com.
- Financial contributions. If you want to make a contribution to the program, you may make a contribution through the ChaverWeb link on the Temple website under the designation Tikkun Olam –Refugee. If you prefer to donate by check, please make it out to Temple Beth Ami and include Tikkun Olam-Refugee in the memo line.
- Other items. As specific items are needed, we will send out a note through Up to the Minute and our designated refugee group email list requesting volunteers to use Sign Up Genius to agree to furnish needed items.
Contact Information
Sherry Nason, Gail Roe, and Ron Lobel are co-chairing TBA’s Refugee Resettlement Program. Contact them or Mark Joffe for more information. To be added to our email list or to volunteer, contact Gail Roe. Thank you for your interest in and support of this effort!

Special Announcements

Assisting with benefit issues
We are looking for a volunteer who can help families with benefit issues – principally SNAP (food stamps) and Medicaid. This would entail occasionally accompanying them to P.G. County offices to ask about benefits. If you would like to help out (even if you don’t know anything about these programs now), please contact Mark Joffe.
Updating list of volunteers who help drive our refugee families
We have a group of volunteers who help drive our refugee families to appointments, when needed. We typically send a note to the group asking if anyone would be available on a particular day and time to help. Please contact Mark Joffe if you are interested in helping this way.

What other organizations is TBA working with?
- We are supporting the efforts of Human Rights First, a nonprofit that helps asylum seekers living in the DC area. Currently, these families are mostly from Latin America and Africa. We have assisted Human Rights First with targeted collections and are exploring other support that we can provide.
- We are also supporting the work of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), which works to protect refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homelands for ethnic, religious, and other reasons.

Information of Interest about Refugees

Discussion Forum

We’ve established a Google Group to facilitate the sharing of ideas, concerns, upcoming events, and similar information related to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. To gain access to the group, contact Nancy Navarro.