Refugee Families Sponsored and Supported by Salem
During the 1970s, members of
Salem recognized that war and political upheaval in
Southeast Asia had created a great number of people who had
been forced to leave their homelands. Members felt
called as Christians to reach out and sponsor a family.
Working through
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the
congregation welcomed a family of nine members from Vietnam.
They arrived in July 1975 and were provided with housing,
food, clothing and financial support. A six-room
apartment was located for them in the community, and their
children were enrolled in local schools. The
Catonsville Times reported that they were the first refugee
family from Vietnam to settle in Catonsville.
Several years later, Salem decided that the congregation
could now assist a second family. June 1979 saw the
arrival of a family of five fleeing Vietnam. A small
row house was located to house them, and on a Sunday
afternoon the church held a “Clean-In” to get it ready.
Within a year, the entire family-father, mother, and three
daughters- were baptized at Salem.
Twenty years later, Salem once
again worked with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
to assist a displaced family. On June 3, 1999 a family
of six from Kosovo arrived in Catonsville and moved into a
townhouse made ready for them by church members.
Forced to flee their home by Serbian gunmen, they had spent
several months in a refugee camp and were happy to begin a
new life in the United States.
Political crisis in
the Sudan caused many to flee their homes. Once again
Salem reached out to a displaced family, who arrived on
September 21, 2004 following an extended stay in a refugee
camp in Egypt. After settling in their new home in
America, the parents requested that Pastor consecrate their
earlier village marriage with a ceremony in church.
The ceremony was followed by a potluck dinner provided by
Salem members and the family’s new friends in the local
Sudanese community.
