New Friends

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During the past year approximately 300 CFNA volunteers and associates were blessed to play a role in extending a warm welcome to almost 300 New Americans. In other words, throughout the ongoing pandemic, Christ has continued to shower us with His gracious love and mercy through these ministry opportunities. 

Sewing

Points of entry into the CFNA network included scholarship assistance for the enrollment of 25 students in Lutheran primary and secondary schools though our Adopt a Student program. Similarly, 25 to 30 students participated each week in our After School Tutoring program. 

Life skills classes such as ESL and driver’s ed played a significant role in extending a warm welcome to a number of recent arrivals. Health and wellness screening, VBS, Heart to Heart Sisters and multiple sewing classes enabled us to extend a preliminary link into a “long welcome” for many. 

Health and wellness screening, VBS and multiple giveaways at the Peace Center enabled CFNA to link with an additional 150 new Americans, many of them recent arrivals. Later in the year, dinner events and personal visits, as well as shoe and coat distributions among recently arrived Afghan refugees carried out in partnership with the International Institute of St. Louis, took CFNA outreach efforts into a new dimension.  

To be sure, our new friends came to St. Louis with many needs, while at the same time facing many uncertainties. Typical was Mohammad from Afghanistan, who received several urgently needed items via the CFNA Christmas Give Away. His unsolicited reaction was, “You people want to help us. … You show us love. … I am so thankful to you. It is sad that my country is not like America.” It was the numerous CFNA donors and volunteers like you that made this assistance possible for Mohammed, and for many others.  

All of the above and more would not have been possible had it not been for a special appeal launched by the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis together with the LCMS Alliance of Congregations. It was hugely successful and the donations it generated have enabled CFNA to greatly expand and extend its outreach efforts. 

The nearly 300 New Americans referenced above were from 19 birth countries. We are pleased to have welcomed all of them and ask His continued blessings on CFNA and those we are privileged to serve. 

Rev. Stanish Stanley, CFNA Executive Director with
CFNA Associates