Project TEAM helps refugees and helps Fresno State students learn

Project TEAM: (for Together Everyone Achieves More) is a new program designed to help Fresno State students experience working as a team toward a common goal of helping new Hmong refugees adjust to the community and culture

Project TEAM is a partnership with the Lutheran Campus Ministry funded by a $47,000 grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and conducted in partnership with the Community Service Scholarship Program at Fresno State.

Sixteen were recruited and trained to work in teams of four to provide support for and enrich the lives of Hmong refugees arriving in Fresno from Thailand.  The students work out of Stone Soup, Catholic Charities, the Fresno Center for New Americans and the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministry.

Students are assigned to make home visits to assess new families’ needs, to teach English, tutor children, run Saturday recreational activities, develop a volunteer orientation program to train future volunteers and publish a resource manual for the families and the people who serve them.

An important benefit of Project TEAM is providing students with opportunities to develop leadership skills through community service, while learning about the value of teamwork and of diversity in American culture.

(Information from Don Romsa, Lutheran campus pastor, dromsa@csufresno.edu)