Compassion Fayetteville Connects, Supports and Befriends Local International Community
A first pair of glasses is a significant milestone for a young boy who was born in a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thanks to a resettlement initiative carried out by Compassion Fayetteville and several community partners, this child now lives with his parents in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Supporting a family in becoming self-sufficient in the U.S. and integrating into a new culture is just one of the many undertakings of Compassion Fayetteville.
Fayetteville is one of more than 100 cities who have signed the Charter for Compassion with The Charter for Compassion International. This means that Compassion Fayetteville is committed to practicing compassion in the local community and has created a sustainable action plan, which has been affirmed by the local city government. The Charter for Compassion supports over 400 compassionate city initiatives across the globe.
Like other Compassionate Communities, Compassion Fayetteville participants promote and create a compassionate culture through various volunteer initiatives. Other significant programs it has undertaken are participation in the Border Cantos Panel and co-heading an annual City-Wide Food Drive.
Supporting and Befriending a Refugee Family
Canopy Northwest Arkansas (Canopy NWA), a refugee resettlement nonprofit, approached Compassion Fayetteville in the fall of 2016 about sponsoring a refugee family. Members teamed up with the Unitarian Universalist Church, Temple Shalom and The Omni Center to collect donated items and run a GoFundMe campaign to finance the resettlement. While President Trump’s travel ban presented some uncertainty about the family’s arrival, they were able to enter the U.S. in January 2017. The most recent revision of Trump’s attempt to limit travel to the U.S. from six predominantly Muslim nations was rejected in a federal appeals court in May 2017.
The family of three arrived with four suitcases and very little English. The resettlement team provided transportation, clothing, food and other types of assistance and mentoring to the new Fayetteville residents. Both of the parents are now employed, their son is attending school and the trio is getting to know other local families.
“With needs so great, it can feel overwhelming. But with each and every act of kindness that Compassion Fayetteville extends to our refugee family, they are delightfully and humbly thankful. In fact, their gratitude takes my breath away,” expressed Dian Williams, board president of Compassion Fayetteville. She also quoted Karen Armstrong, founder of the Charter for Compassion; “Compassion is not an option. It’s the key to our survival.”
Williams stated her new neighbors are also taking English classes, learning technology skills, connecting with a local church and budgeting to save for their own car. Another man who came to Fayetteville as a refugee with Canopy NWA expresses his gratitude in the short clip below.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan shared this reflection on the resettlement:
Fayetteville, Arkansas has a history of leadership in the state in creating an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming community for all its people. Working with Canopy NWA, we will continue to foster this culture for ensuring the inclusion and long-term economic and social integration of new Americans. We always choose equality. It is the unity of shared values among our diverse population that permeates the community and makes us stronger … Most importantly, Fayetteville has a long tradition of opening our hearts to those most in need.
Border Cantos Exhibition and Panel on Immigration
Border Cantos: A Sight & Sound Exploration from the Mexican-American Border, was a multimedia and bilingual creative collaboration between American photographer Richard Misrach and Mexican composer Guillermo Galindo at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. In this free exhibit, which ran February to April, large and small-scale photographs were pared with sound-generating sculptures composed of objects collected along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
The images and artifacts documented and explored the natural and human landscape of the borderlands. Moira Traw, Crystal Bridges’ associate museum educator of public programs, and Samantha Sigmon, interpretation manager, invited Compassion Fayetteville and other local humanitarian organizations to participate in a related community panel about immigration. Immigration arrests have increased nearly 40 percent under the current administration.
In Border Cantos (cantos means songs in English), scenes captured and objects transformed to produce sound included views of local flora and environment, children’s shoes, shotgun shells, ladders, torn books, and views and sections of the wall itself. “Misrach and Galindo give shape and substance to people who must be invisible and remain invisible in order to survive,” said Susan Kraus of The Huffington Post.
“We’re artists, we’re not politicians. We want to give people the experience of the border. And to get acquainted with the immigrant’s journey. To make it palpable. To make it human,” Galindo explained on behalf of himself and Misrach, in the same article.
The community panel that followed was held at the Fayetteville Public Library April 9 and included Pattie Williams of Compassion Fayetteville, Terry Bankston of Engage NWA, Lauren Snodgrass of Canopy NWA, Michel Rangel of the Arkansas United Community Coalition, Blanca Estevez of LUCHA and Ozark Indivisible, and Emily Rodriquez as Crystal Bridges moderator. Rodriquez and Sigmon asked the panel a variety of questions relating to their organizations, the exhibit, current politics, misinformation and fear, successes, setbacks, education, awareness, and empathy. The panel included time for questions and conservation for all in attendance.
Pattie Williams, founding member and leader within Compassion Fayetteville, felt that participating in the community conversation helped her group to strengthen “its relationship with the Hispanic community.” She also said:
It is vitally important to weave empathy and compassion into the fabric of our community as we face together the challenges of inclusion, justice, equality and respect for all. I am extremely grateful to Crystal Bridges for giving Compassion Fayetteville the opportunity to do just that in a room of caring people. Conversation matters.
City-Wide Food Drive 2017
Each year, Compassion Fayetteville works with other local groups, such as Seeds that Feed and Tri Cycle Farms, to run a City-Wide Food Drive. During the annual food drive, donations are collected from drop-off sites at the Fayetteville Public Library, local fire stations, City Council Offices and various retail and grocery outlets and then delivered to local charitable organizations. Dian Williams conveyed that the last Food Drive collection totaled nearly 700 pounds of donations.
Seeds that Feed carries out a program called “Care Cropping” in Fayetteville, in which they collect and distributes fresh produce to those in need. Similarly, Tri Cycle Farm’s Food Recovery Program picks up food from Whole Foods to deliver to food-insecure residents of the local community. Their mission is to “grow community through soil as we steward food awareness, education, and empowerment.”
Dian Williams described the efforts to provide food for all through the annual drive:
Since poverty has such a deleterious effect on too many in our region, I am grateful for the number of people dedicated to this compassionate and very worthwhile food drive to bring food to the hungry. The compassion movement … is based on The Golden Rule; ‘Do unto others what you want them to do to you.’ I can find no better way to spend my retirement than in the service of others who are in need of a helping hand. For me, hunger is not an option.
Compassion Fayetteville’s additional helpful initiatives include working with Magdalene Serenity House, opening in 2017, to house eight women recovering from human trafficking; assisting 7 Hills Homeless Shelter to acquire essential monthly monetary support from the community; working with Tri-Cycle Farms to raise community awareness and monthly funding for their programming, partnering with Able Talks to support autistic young adults; aiding Therapeutic Foster Care in providing respite care for caregivers of abused children; and supporting the showing of Does Your Vote Count. Stealing America One Vote at a Time, with the League of Women Voters in Washington County, among others.
To learn more or get involved in these types of compassionate actions, visit Compassion Fayetteville online and learn more about The Charter for Compassion at www.charterforcompassion.org. Also, find The Charter on Facebook and Twitter and sign and affirm the Charter for Compassion here.
-written by Julia Travers
