West Coast Refugee Offices Established by CWS
Diocesan Press Service. December 8, 1975 [75428]
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- With the closing of Camp Pendleton's Refugee Resettlement Reception Center on October 31, Church World Service (CWS) has established two Regional Indochina Refugee Resettlement Program offices in California.
The first regional office was opened in Los Angeles to serve Southern California and adjoining states, while the San Francisco office will serve Northern California and the adjoining area. The Rev. R. Dean Hancock, a United Methodist pastor, who had served with the Vietnam Christian Service for several years, was appointed the Los Angeles Office Consultant. Mrs. Virginia Callahan, who had also served in Vietnam with UNICEF and Vietnam Christian Service was appointed to the San Francisco office. Mrs. Callahan had served as the CWS Indochina Refugee Resettlement Director at Camp Pendleton until the closing of the Refugee Reception Center.
At a meeting held on November 13, at the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocesan House, the job description of the Regional Consultant was refined. Convening and chairing the all-morning session was the Rev. Samir J. Habiby, West Coast Coordinator, Southeast Asian Refugee Resettlement Program of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church. Representatives of CWS were the Rev. James J. Thomas of New York City, chairman, CWS Immigration and Refugee Programs, New York City; the Rev. John W. Schauer, director, CWS Immigration and Refugee Program, New York City.
Representing CWS participating denominations in Southern California were the Rev. Priscilla Chaplin, executive director, Southern California Council of Churches; the Rev. George Cole, United Presbyterian Church Synod; the Rev. Canon Oliver P. Garver, executive assistant to the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles; and the Rev. Victor Hand, United Methodist Church, Conference of Southern California and Arizona. Father Habiby serves also as the representative of the Southern California Protestant Asian Committee to the Southern California Council of Churches.
The Los Angeles meeting had been preceded by a meeting at Church World Service headquarters in New York on November 2, 1975, at which the Episcopal Church representatives met with CWS executive director Paul McCleary and the Rev. John Schauer. Episcopalians at the meeting were the Rt. Rev. Edmond L. Browning, executive for Mission; the Rt. Rev. Milton L. Wood, executive for administration; Mrs. Howard O. Bingley, executive director, Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief; Mrs. Isis Brown, Episcopal refugee resettlement officer; the Rev. Winston W. Ching, executive officer, Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry; the Rev. John Corn, director, Special Ministry in the Courts, Trinity Parish, New York; the Rev. Wade Egbert, on special assignment to. assist Mrs. Brown; the Rev. John Huston, Washington State Council of Churches Refugee Ministry and Diocese of Olympia Refugee Liaison Officer; and Father Habiby.
During the past several months, Church World Service has resettled over 13, 000 of the 130, 000 Indochinese Refugees. The Episcopal Church expects to have resettled 1,800 of the refugees. The West Coast office has been involved with 50 percent of the Episcopal cases.
Father Habiby, a Palestinian Arab refugee himself, is the rector of St. Anselm's Parish in Garden Grove, Calif. He has been on a limited leave of absence from his 1,000 communicant parish since June 1. He also serves as chairman of the program group on communication for the Diocese of Los Angeles and for the National Council of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew.
The West Coast Coordinator's office, funded by the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, is involved in several West Coast community projects dealing with refugee resettlement, and has been instrumental in establishing the Los Angeles County Forum and the Orange County Southeast Asian Interagency Forum. To date, 30, 000 of the refugees have been resettled in California, and it is expected that 70 percent of the total number of Indochinese refugees will find their way to California.
The CWS office in Southern California is located in Hollywood, off the Hollywood Freeway, at the United Methodist Headquarters: 5250 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 311, Los Angeles, Calif.
The Northern California office is located in downtown San Francisco at the Northern California Council of Churches Building, 9.14 Market Street, Room 309, San Francisco, Calif. 94102.