Refugee Circle Update

It was a busy summer for the Refugee Circle!  In July, eight-year old Vanessa had surgery for a cochlear implant, which went well. The Circle is now working with Olive to get her placed in an appropriate educational environment.  We are hoping, with the help of an evaluation from the Boston Children’s Hospital, to have her transferred to the Framingham Learning Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.   Vanessa now has an advocate from the Mass Commission for the Deaf for Vanessa, and we all continue to navigate the various social systems for additional support and resources. Other news: Olive has been working part-time at FedEx, Jordy is now in pre-school, and Angela is still in day care.

Over the summer we realized a need to revisit our goals and role in Olive’s life. Through that process we created a mission statement for ourselves: “We are committing to assisting Olive to meet her own goals, for herself and her family, in a relationship of mutual respect, openness, and honesty, and with an ethic of caring and compassion.”

We have a new member of our team, Stacey Hill, who has signed on through Ascentria Care Alliance, the agency we are working with. We have had so many people from our church community respond and help with time and/or donations. It has truly been remarkable.

How you can help: Olive and the children have enjoyed attending church on the Sundays that we can provide them with transportation.  We would love a few more volunteers to sign up so that we could create a Sunday driving schedule.   You will need to fill out a volunteer form from Ascentria to serve as a driver.

Other needs: winter gear!  We would like to provide the family with winter shoes, boots, and coats. Please contact Lynn Simmons to get information about sizes and to prevent duplicate donations: 774-262-5120, lsimmons@me.com.

 Additional needs: 

- Boys clothing for Jordy, Size 4-5T

- Wet wipes, Kleenex, paper towels,

- Diapers: Size 4 (day and night), Size 5 night

- Mousetraps

- 6-8 volunteers to drive Olive and the children to church

- Volunteers for outings with the children to area parks, playgrounds, etc.

- Saturday morning transportation to ACE starting in mid-October

- Transportation to laundry, groceries

Please bring donated items to church on Sunday and leave them by the welcome table during coffee hour. Again, for winter coats, shoes, and boots please contact Lynn Simmons to get information about sizes before donating.

Thank you and many blessings to all,

Ellen Foley, Stacey Hill, Danna Peterson, Peter Haroutian, and Lynn Simmons (774-262-5120, lsimmons@me.com.)