Thanksgiving "Give Away"

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On Monday, November 15, CFNA organized a “Thanksgiving Give Away” of house-use items for the benefit of recent refugee arrivals, primarily from Afghanistan. Distributed to 24 recently arrived refugee families, 20 of them from Afghanistan, were a large quantity of the more than 4,000 in-kind donations received from various Lutheran congregations during the past several weeks.

Getting Ready

Visiting CFNA friends from Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, Valparaiso, IN, made the organization and distribution of this giveaway possible. This team of 13 middle schoolers and five adults led by Mrs. Ellen Prahlow worked on sorting through the donations and then staging them at the Peace Center. Later that evening, the team helped with the distribution of these items to the refugee families.  Each family received between 50 and 75 items, depending on their needs.

This distribution was regarded as a blessing by receivers and providers alike. Nooria, an Afghan lady, on receiving her pick of items responded, “Thank you, brother, for this gift that you give my family. These items help me so much because I am taking care of my uncle and family who came from Afghanistan, and I have financial problems taking care of their needs and my family.”

For the six new Afghan families who were introduced to CFNA for the first time that day, the distribution connected them to new friends, as well as activities offered at the Peace Center. Furthermore, students and adults from Immanuel Lutheran had their own thanks to share. Lead teacher Mrs. Ellen Prahlow summed it up for the group: “It was great that we could do this for you and the people you serve. We are here on mission service for a few days in St. Louis at different locations, but meeting all our new neighbors was a very special learning experience for all of us.”

Hearing these heartfelt responses brought to mind the many things for which we need to be thankful. Even as we thank our friends from Immanuel, Valparaiso, we also thank the numerous Lutheran congregations in the St. Louis area who have stepped forward to welcome and support our new Afghan friends. Still others, like the Lutheran Fraternity at Iowa State University, have provided service teams to collect these donations from 15 drop-off points throughout St. Louis and organize them at our storage facility.

For all of these acts of generosity and thoughtfulness we remain grateful. As St. Paul reminds us — “I always thank my God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:4, NIV).

By Pastor Stanish Stanley
Executive Director, CFNA