This week we share our plate with Sponsors Organized to Assist Refugees, or SOAR, a program of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. 

Since the 1970s, SOAR has welcomed and assisted our new neighbors as they arrive in the Portland metro area. SOAR, an affiliate of Church World Service, resettles hundreds of refugees a year. They link sponsors—congregations, friends or community organizations—with refugees before they arrive in the United States, and help sponsors welcome and assist them in their adjustment to a new life in the Portland metro area.

Refugees are welcomed, given temporary homes with household items and food, and offered assistance as they learn a new language, develop job skills and search for employment. With the recent end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, SOAR is collaborating with others to help welcome Afghan refugees to Portland.