Do you know what an injera maker is?  I didn’t know either when I saw it on my list of things to buy for newly arriving refugees.  When I Googled it, I found out it is to make an Ethiopian bread from teff flour, similar to a crepe.  How to find such a machine???  I soon discovered that a lefse maker is perfect!  And they were on sale for half price on Amazon Prime Day at Target.  I’m sure Target wondered who would want 8 lefse makers.  Soon I was able to deliver injera makers to Lutheran Social Services (LSS), along with 20 trash cans, 30 trash liners, 20 umbrellas, 30 shampoos, and 20 brooms, for my latest project for Refugee Outreach. 

In the past year Faith has had an impact in the lives of 150 refugees who have come to the state of Minnesota through our Refugee Outreach.  Such an impact these Mission Grant monies have on these grateful individuals!  Most of our donations go to brand new families in the resettlement program but sometimes items are given to folks in need in other programs within refugee services.  Since last October, the vast majority of families coming to Minnesota are Karen (an ethnic group from Burma) and Congolese – almost all parents with small children.  Smaller numbers come from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Syria.  There has been a huge cut in Somalis making it to the US because of the administration’s many extra security steps for them. 

LSS relies on its faith partners to help the programs run smoothly.  Our contact, Margaret Yapp, says it best: “I can’t tell you enough how wonderful it has been to have a dependable donor like you and the rest of Faith Lutheran – truly, it has been a weight off of our shoulders to know that we can always get the supplies we need to help welcome our new neighbors to Minnesota.”