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HERRIMAN — When Youth Services Librarian Phuong Vu volunteered to find a recipient for the Herriman Library’s first donation drive, it seemed fated that Utah Catholic Community Services Refugee Resettlement Program would be the group to call her back.
“It’s just a small way to give back,” Vu said. “There’s so many groups of people that need support and I think the people in Herriman are just very generous in general.”
Vu shares a special connection to the organization that serves people of all beliefs who are in need.
I hope people become more aware of refugee issues. Just to know that there are other groups that could use support. We definitely want to keep families warm, too.
–- Phuong Vu, youth services librarian
“My family was one of the first Vietnamese families that arrived in Utah, right after the Vietnam War ended,” Vu explained. “My family had fled Vietnam. They were in California in one of the camps, then Catholic Community Services placed us in Utah. I was born here. There was a family that was willing to help support us and help us transition.”
Each year, roughly a thousand international refugees are placed in Utah, many coming from Bhutan, Iraq, and Somalia, according the State of Utah Refugee Office. There are currently about 25,000 refugees in Utah, 99 percent of whom reside in the Salt Lake City area.
The Catholic Community Services Refugee Resettlement Program is one program that aids refugees with the transition to life in Utah. The group is helping with the relocation of about 600 refugee families this year alone.
“There are so many refugees that have lost their loved ones,” said Aden Batar, director of the Refugee Resettlement Program. “There are some that have lost their entire family. There are single parents where their husband or wife has been killed.”
Along with the traumatizing experience of having to flee their home country because of political or religious persecution, many of the refugees are now finding themselves unprepared for Utah’s harsh winters, a reality which the Herriman Library saw as an opportunity to help.
“The majority of the refugees are coming from places where there is no winter,” Batar explained. “When they come here, they have no warm clothes. They haven’t experienced any cold climate.”
Vu hopes the charity drive, where library staff are collecting donations of new socks, hats, gloves, and scarves to help the program’s families this winter, does more than just fill up the library’s Christmas tree with cold weather accessories.
“For one, I hope people become more aware of refugee issues,” said Vu. “Just to know that there are other groups that could use support. We definitely want to keep families warm, too.”
There are some teens that are here on their own, with no family, no parents. This happens a lot of times from their different situations, maybe because of war or just sent to be here in America by themselves.
–- Phuong Vu, youth services librarian
The program also helps about 60 orphaned teenage and school-age refugee children that have come to settle in the Wasatch Front, often being placed with foster families.
“There are some teens that are here on their own, with no family, no parents,” said Vu. “This happens a lot of times from their different situations, maybe because of war or just sent to be here in America by themselves.”
According to a 2010 U.N. Refugee Agency report, 44 percent of refugees and 31 percent of asylum-seekers were children under the age of 18.
Both Vu and the Refugee Resettlement Program are looking forward to the donations, in hopes of bringing a little cheer to the people that they serve.
“One of our other staff people told me that a family and their daughters made all these fleece scarves,” said Vu. “They’re all decorated, too, it was family project. I was just so surprised, it was so awesome to see.”
“We really hope it makes a difference for these families and for the kids and teens,” said Lauren McCarty, public relations and marketing coordinator of Catholic Community Services. “What we hope is that these kids will be able to go outside and play at recess, that they’re prepared when they go outside.”
Donations will be accepted until Monday, Dec. 12 at the Herriman Library located at 5380 W. Herriman Main Street. More information about Utah Catholic Community Services and their Refugee Resettlement Program can be found at www.ccsutah.org.
Mallory Black is a former intern with Salt Lake County Youth Services.
