RCAM

On this Valentine's Day, we want to take the time to spread the love and say a big "thanks" to those who have donated goods to RCAM. Multiple donations of clothes and household items to the clients have been an ongoing activity in the past trimester. Over the recent months, we have been receiving large donations from community members, staff, volunteers, and local stores. Donations were organized, shelved and distributed among the clients by the RCAM staff members. We are so

Today, a refugee community meeting was held at the New American Center. We met with the state representative Brendon Crighton and ORR representative in MA Lisa Rafanelli. The topic: Islamophobia. Our guest speakers discussed Islamophobia as a form of prejudice, local community/governmental officials’ response, immigration policy on refugee arrivals, and visas regulations. Rep. Crighton shared his concern about message of hatred coming from certain political leaders and offer

Today, the New American Center celebrated World Refugee Day. About 100 clients from Afghanistan, Iraq, Bhutan, Burma, Haiti, Eretria, Somalia, Congo, CAR, Dominican Republic, Burundi, and many other countries were present at the event. Among the guest speakers were Mary Truong, Executive Director of MA Office for Refugees and Immigrants, Brendan Crighton, State Representative, and Dan Cahill, President of the Lynn City Council. They were overjoyed to be present for another Wo

Starting off the month strong, RCAM was represented at Salem State's annual Youth at Risk (YAR) Conference by the Youth Program Coordinator, Becky Jones. Her presentation was entitled "Young New Americans: Understanding and Serving Refugee Youth." During the interactive presentation, participants from various organizations, such as educational, mental health, and social institutions, were invited to discuss the following topics: cultural norms on disciplining students, dating

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sabbah Aljurani and Adnan Aljuboori, two former RCAM clients originally from Iraq. These two young men are soon leaving Massachusetts for Texas, hoping to achieve their dream of owning their own land and starting a farming business. I asked both Sabbah and Adnan about their experience here at the Russian Community Association of MA, and they had nothing but excellent remarks. "They treated me better than the people in my own