By Susan Shinn Turner
For the Salisbury Post

Lutheran Services Carolinas’ New Americans Program, housed at St. John’s Lutheran Church and designed to help refugees acclimate, is open for business in the congregation’s Community Ministry Center. The center is located at the corner of Council and Church streets in Downtown Salisbury.

Wyatt Dunlap is refugee resettlement director at the Salisbury office. He explained that a refugee is defined as anyone fleeing conflict or danger, who is admitted to the country after being vetted by the State Department, a process that can take several years.

The St. John’s office is one of seven LSC New Americans Program offices in the Carolinas. Also working in that office are Quinn Rizzo, community engagement coordinator; Breanna Hagerott, resettlement and placement case manager; Dawn Ranes, employment specialist; and Jason Pruitt, a case manager working specifically with Ukrainian refugees.

“We are determining what families will be a good fit for the community,” Dunlap says.

The Salisbury office will serve Ukrainian families because of the large population of Ukrainian refugees in Charlotte. The Salisbury office will also serve refugees from other countries within its 100-mile radius from Charlotte to Winston-Salem.

“Our goal is to serve as many people as we can,” Dunlap says.

About 75 people are being served for fiscal year 2023, which ends in September. For fiscal year 2024, Dunlap says, “I would expect us to serve 100 people.”

Members of the community can become involved through participation in a Circle of Welcome. That’s a group of six to 10 people who help refugees get acclimated for six to 12 months after their arrival.

“It could be either for a large family or a group of individuals, whatever makes sense,” Dunlap says.

Rizzo completed training for the St. John’s Circle of Welcome in May. Another session took place in late June at Trinity Oaks Retirement Community for residents. Future trainings will occur as needed.

“As we start to receive more families or individuals, we’ll need more Circles of Welcome,” Dunlap notes.

Circles of Welcome, Dunlap says, represent “an opportunity to better serve our clients. It also offers a more community-based and meaningful approach for volunteers and our new neighbors.”

Bringing a New Americans Program to Salisbury was an intentional choice, Dunlap says. LSC’s home office is based here, and Ted Goins, LSC’s president and CEO, lobbied for the New Americans Program placement.

“Forming a Circle of Welcome and hosting refugee families will bring energy and excitement to St. John’s as we move
forward into this new future,” says Pastor Greg Williams, St. John’s interim senior pastor. “This is an incredibly powerful way to live out our mission of connecting faith and life together.

“St. John’s is excited to host this office and encourage other faith communities to consider forming a Circle of Welcome. We want to roll out that Salisbury hospitality for our friends in need.”

Any stories in the news about refugees — especially when a disaster occurs — give Goins and his colleagues an opportunity to educate people on the entire refugee resettlement process and how it works.

Goins notes that most offices like this are located in cities much larger than Salisbury.

“I just love that Salisbury, because of the Lutheran connection and where we are located, provides such a great opportunity to serve out of the office here,” Goins says.

For more information about the Circle of Welcome, contact Quinn Rizzo at qrizzo@lscarolinas.net.

Susan Shinn Turner is staff writer for St. John’s Lutheran Church.