You are invited to an evening of international food, music and friendship commemorating World Refugee Day and celebrating all refugees who call Northeast Ohio “home.” The event is free and open to the public! Cash bar. We invite donations to support our work with refugee resettlement in Cleveland.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012
5:00 PM to 9:00 PM Saigon Plaza, 5400 Detroit Avenue – Free parking!

A refugee is a person who flees their home country due to a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”
Today, there is an estimated 11-12 million refugees in the world. This is a dramatic increase since the mid-1970s when there were less than 3 million refugees worldwide. The end of the Cold War and the end of regimes that kept social order led to the dissolution of countries and changes in politics that led to unbridled persecution and a huge increase in the number of refugees.

 
Each year the International Services Center (ISC) provides resettlement services to refugees like the young woman in the photo. She may be a daughter, a sister, a young mother. She may have lived in a refugee camp for the past 5 to 10 years. She may have been separated from her family members. She comes to Cleveland to find a home and begin a new life. ISC is there through the entire process of transition to life in America. It has been providing these services for 96 years with competence and compassion!

Today ISC needs your assistance to meet the needs of refugees assigned to Cleveland as we help them become productive Americans and add to the vitality of Cleveland! YOU can make a difference.

 
Please join us on Wednesday, June 20th for a unique international experience!