I was fortunate to witness a bit of Little Amal’s journey around the globe in Ashfield recently. She is a little girl, a Syrian refugee, represented by a giant street puppet, making her way through Europe and beyond with the help of a talented human crew. Her aim is to move past our more hardened resistance to the plight of refugees near and far, and help us to consider a person-to-person response.
As I watched her lifelike expressions and movements, I saw a huge, warm welcome extended to her by the 200 Ashfield area residents who came out to greet her. It gave me renewed energy and heart as I continue to look for ways to help the 48 families of refugees and immigrants at the Days Inn in Greenfield. Having written about this in early August, it seemed time for an update.
To review, in late May the commonwealth hastily sent these families to Greenfield because they were overwhelmed with locating safe housing in eastern Massachusetts. The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities issued a contract to ServiceNet to house them in the Days Inn, as ServiceNet has other contracts for homeless shelters.
Since June I have been looking for ways to be helpful. I’ve met a Haitian family, and I’m taking small steps to learn Creole. I’ve helped people sign up for food pantry and library cards. I’ve shared Haitian-English books, flash cards and coloring books. I’ve loaded Google Translate on my phone and learned to use it. I’ve met several other Greenfield residents who are eager to help, and we are combining our efforts.
But none of this has happened with ServiceNet’s help, as their mission does not include working with volunteers. They have been very clear, including through a meeting we had with their VP of community relations, that they do not have the time nor staff to do this. This includes not answering their phones or our email messages, and making us unwelcome at the Days Inn.
People may like to know that this has also included not distributing the clothes and materials donated for the families earlier in the summer. ServiceNet made an announcement asking that donations be stopped due to lack of space. (Despite the Greenfield Health Department having room and the willingness to help.) ServiceNet asked the Health Department to give these donations to other agencies, which they did. So the donations meant for the Days Inn did not go there. In addition, the Health Department has a list of people who have volunteered to help, but ServiceNet has not used it.
Suffice it to say, we have been more than frustrated with ServiceNet.
Part of the problem is the kind of contract issued to ServiceNet during this statewide emergency. The state has a specific Office of Refugees and Immigrants, and I chanced into an in-depth conversation with a director there. She said contracts from their office have an explicit requirement to recruit and train volunteers. She was adamant that volunteers are absolutely essential to their mission. She also said, it is likely that the contract issued to ServiceNet was done on an emergency basis, and may not have covered all the needs common to new refugees and immigrants.
ServiceNet sees its current mission as simply providing housing, food, and safety — not small things — but they are relying on partnering with other agencies to do the rest. They are required to have interpreters on site, but have had difficulty maintaining this consistently. And their policy to keep people safe from scammers (there have been instances of this), ends up keeping everyone away from the Days Inn, both those with negative intentions as well as those wishing to help.
So how can we help? How can we express the welcome in our hearts, so easily given to Little Amal?
You can contact the Center for New Americans on their website, where there is a form and a volunteer coordinator who will respond. They are providing legal and language services to the refugee families. We hope this might include “socials” to practice English at some point. Starting Sept. 18, you can donate clean winter clothing to the Y’s annual free store. The Y’s Free Store is on Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and refugees are welcome to participate.
There may be ways to help out in our schools, and at Community Action’s Family Center, where refugees are welcome. We may do another winter clothing drive.
How else? Smiles can never go wrong, and they are easy to produce! If you are out and about, and you are near to someone you think may be a refugee, or just a person who could use a lift — smile! I don’t want anyone to be intrusive, but let’s say you are in the cereal aisle and you see someone confused. You might say, “Spanish? Creole?” and then you can say welcome-how-can-I-help-you by saying: “Beinvenido. Como puedo ayudar?” or “Byenveni. Kouman m ka ede?”
Then get out the translate feature on your phone and see how helpful you can be. I’m sure there will be smiles all around!
Susanae Glovacki is a resident of Greenfield, retired social worker, and never-to-retire activist.