A Marathon, Not A Sprint: NST Prepares To Welcome Family Of Eight Refugees To Falmouth
After nearly two months of preparation, Neighborhood Support Team Cape Cod is set to receive its first family of Afghan refugees.
In an email on Friday, JoAnn Fishbein, a representative of NST, confirmed that the organization had received a request from Ascentria, its placement agency, to host a family of eight—two adults and six children—in Falmouth. The children, three boys and three girls, range from five months to 14 years old. The family speaks Pashto and NST has secured one translator who lives off-Cape but is currently seeking more Pashto-speaking translators to help bridge the language gap.
The family, who are coming from a base in Texas, are expected to arrive on Monday night. NST organizers and members will be traveling in a small caravan of vehicles to Worcester Regional Airport, where the family will be landing, to welcome them and then make the trip back to Falmouth together.
“A lot of people are very excited,” said Marguerite McElroy, a representative of NST. “We’re excited, we’re nervous, [and] we’re overwhelmed by the generosity of our community.”
Ms. McElroy said that the outpouring of donations from organizations and individuals all over Cape Cod has been abundant, especially from various organizations within the faith community. A plethora of organizations and groups have helped out but Ms. McElroy says the Reverend Christina Williams of North Falmouth Congregational Church has been a great help and is responsible for organizing and collecting mass donations of food, household supplies, and clothing for the family.
“The outpouring of the community has been extraordinary,” said Ilana Hurwitz, also a member of NST. “The generosity and the generosity of spirit has really been amazing, absolutely amazing. [It’s] just heartwarming and heartening to see the community coming together in such a strong way and all factions of the community working together to support this family.”
The Reverend Nell Fields of the Waquoit Congregational Church and also a representative, said that their organization has taken the "it takes a village" approach, which has luckily been met with generous enthusiasm from all over Cape Cod.
"This is a mighty, generous, and big village we have," she said.
While the family settles into Falmouth over the next few weeks, NST will be busy assessing their needs and working to meet them to ensure a comfortable transition.
“The main thing now is that we’re ready and we’ve got their place set up,” Ms. McElroy said during a phone call, which she took while running last-minute errands to prepare for the trip to Worcester to welcome the family. “This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. We’re going to have to support them for an ongoing period...we’re going to need a lot of support.”
In the coming months, NST will be largely responsible for supporting the family, and there will likely be more refugees coming to Falmouth looking to resettle. But even with the monumental outpouring of support from the community, resettling refugees is no cheap endeavor.
NST continues to accept donations, and anyone with questions or looking to donate should reach out to Ms. Fields at 339-927-8972 or email nstcapecod@gmail.com.