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Ecumenical Community to Serve Indochinese Refugees Dedicated

Episcopal News Service. April 21, 1976 [76142]

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- St. Anselm Indochinese Refugee Community Center, located at St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Parish Church, was formally dedicated April 2. The primary focus of the Center will be assisting the Indochinese to reach an acceptable American level of self support and to be integrated into the social, economic and cultural life of the American community and specifically, the areas in which they live and work. The Center, funded for two years by a grant from Church World Service, is under the direction of a board consisting of ecumenical and community leaders drawn from a broad cross section of the community.

Presiding at the dedication ceremonies was the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Rusack, Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles. Miss Ruud Van Hoogevest, Coordinator of Refugee Resettlement, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland, and Mr. William Taylor, Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Committee's National Staff Consultant in New York, were the principal speakers. The Board of Supervisors of Orange County was represented by Supervisor Laurence J. Schmit. The Honorable Kay Barr, Council woman and former Garden Grove Mayor, represented the City of Garden Grove. Miss Van Hoogevest, Mr. Taylor, Councilwoman Barr, and Supervisor Schmit assisted Bishop Rusack in the ribbon cutting ceremony. Approximately 150 persons attended the Friday morning ceremony, including religious leaders of the ecumenical community and civic leaders.

Miss Van Hoogevest praised the residents of Garden Grove for taking the initiative to start such a center. She stated: "The United States has a history and a great reputation for accepting displaced persons from throughout the world. The refugee problem is of great concern to our 271 member churches. The World Council of Churches programs that deal with refugees are a vital expression of our Christian love and compassion and our concern for justice, love and freedom."

Mr. William Taylor, speaking for the Rev. John Schauer, Director of Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program, stated that "Church World Service has resettled 200,000 refugees over the past 20 years. This task is a moral commitment made through the splendid work of the local denominations, and will continue in the years to come."

At the Luncheon following the service, Commander David Paul Plank, CHC, USN, with the First Marine Division, FMF, USMC, at Camp Pendleton, declared that the Center was the fulfillment of a dream. "Father Habiby was at Camp Pendleton from Day One, when the refugees first arrived," he said. "He envisioned a Center such as this one even then."

The Center will assist other agencies in the coordination of such services as English as a Second Language (ESL) classes as well as job training opportunities, job counseling, and the development of a referral service and an information center. An important phase in the Center's work will be counseling the refugees to cope better with the "cultural shock" of their hurried uprooting and long-range resettlement. The Center is dedicated to serving all groups of Indochinese refugees.

St. Anselm Indochinese Refugee Community Center will also function as the headquarters for the Orange County Southeast Asian Interagency Forum, an organization which draws representation from voluntary agencies, civic, and governmental groups in order to coordinate services to the Southeast Asian refugees.

[thumbnail: Ribbon Cutting Ceremony:...]