by Samantha Thompson, WeeCycle Advisory Board Member
As a new member of WeeCycle’s advisory board, I didn’t really
know or fully understand to whom our donations and supplies of baby gear went. That all changed I went to visit one of our
partner organizations, Project Worthmore. WeeCycle supports Project Worthmore
by providing new and gently used baby gear and diapers to Project Worthmore’s
refugee participants. I joined
WeeCycle’s Executive Director, Jayme Ritchie, and fellow board members Morgan
Siebel and Amanda Newsome for our tour, and it was an eye-opening experience.
Truthfully, I had no idea of what to expect. On my way to the location
I was having anxiety about my hectic day and mentally allocated maybe an hour
for this visit. Time seemed to stop once
I walked in the door. All of the “to do” items and meetings that were clogging
my brain no longer were important. We immediately met Frank Anello who is the
founder and director of Project Worthmore. The “office” of Project Worthmore is
located in a common room within a low-income apartment building.In the room there are six long rectangular tables and chairs and a white board. When we went in, an English class with 20 or so students was going on. The teacher of the class, Liz, speaks no Burmese, only English to her students. She was giving a lesson and everyone was paying close attention. The students, mostly women ranging in age of early 20‘s through 50’s, were mostly from Burma.
Burma
is home to the world’s longest running civil war. The US has granted asylum to tens of
thousands of refugees of this conflict, and several thousand are placed here in
Denver. Frank explained to us that a primary
goal of Project Worthmore is teaching English to the Burmese refugees. He believes that if you arm someone with the
English language, that individual will be more adept to help provide a strong,
independent lifestyle. 
Project Worthmore is a non-profit organization that seeks to
improve the quality of life of Denver-area refugees from Burma by providing
cultural mentorship and community supports. Teaching the Burmese refugees
English is just one of the goals at Project Worthmore. They also provide family
sponsorship, or what I think of as mentoring.
Typically a group of four or five people sponsors a Burmese refugee
family. This group will help teach them about managing their finances,
organizing and maintaining a home and the livelihood and development of the
children. A big part of this process is adjusting and succeeding in Western
living.
Frank, with his wife Carolyn, first got involved with the refugee
community five years ago when they wanted to help a Burmese refugee. Living in
the Park Hill neighborhood, Frank always noticed the mini-clusters of ethnic
communities sprinkled around Colfax between Monaco and Yosemite. After driving
by for many years and noticing these apartment dwellings housing many different
nationalities, Frank stopped to explore further. There he met Nandar Kyau, a female refugee
from Burma whose husband had paid handsomely to have her smuggled out of Burma.
Her journey to the United States began with a treacherous ride lying on the
bottom of a flat bed truck covered by a piece of plywood which was then stacked
high with produce. Hidden, Nandar traveled for 10 hours to the border to cross
into Thailand. She was risking her life
for a better life, yet not knowing where that life may be. Often times, the
tower of produce can collapse killing whoever is hiding underneath. Or worse
yet, guards at border crossings routinely stab their bayonets into the bottom
of the flat bed trucks to uncover refugees fleeing the country. This voyage
takes amazing strength and bravery by Individuals desperate for a better life
for themselves and their families.
The woman that Frank and Carolyn met and sponsored was the start
of Project Worthmore. Through helping
Nandar, the Anello’s were introduced to others that needed help. They started teaching English as a second
language to a handful of refugees and now have helped over 58 Burmese refugee
families in Denver. With Project
Worthmore’s help, Nandar and her family now live in an apartment right off City
Park. Their children attend a highly
regarded elementary school within the Denver Public School system. She and her husband saved enough money to buy
a car and they both work at a successful restaurant in Denver. Nandar’s goal is to soon work for Project
Worthmore as a home visitor to help other Burmese refugees navigate this new
world they are living in and succeed.
A big part of the problem is that when refugees come to the
United States, they are only given 6 months of government assistance. They
qualify for TANF, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. TANF is a welfare
program designed to motivate individuals to get back to work. While in theory
this is a good program, in reality, it is not well suited for refugees. Most
refugee families coming to our country do not speak English, they do not
understand Western living and they are simply trying to find their way. Project
Worthmore steps in to help bridge the gap and give the Burmese refugees the
assistance they need to succeed in our country and live independently.
While WeeCycle was visiting Project Worthmore, we asked if there
was anything the resident families needed. I expected a few people to say they
needed diapers or maybe even a stroller.
Everyone in the class huddled around a sheet of paper while one of the
students feverishly wrote down their requests.
Our sheet of paper was filled on both sides with items they desperately
needed. This list launched WeeCycle’s
first virtual diaper drive. The diapers
and baby gear that WeeCycle collects and then donates to organizations like
Project Worthmore is invaluable. Without
the support of WeeCycle, these refugee families would have to figure out how to
provide the basic necessities for their children on top of navigating living
and working in our country.
Thanks for making our community better by helping women and children in need!
