Sponsors for Indochina Refugees Needed
Episcopal News Service. June 8, 1976 [76194]
NEW YORK, N. Y. -- The Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Episcopal Church has agreed to arrange sponsorship for 10 per cent of the 400 new Indochina refugee cases which have been accepted by Church World Service (CWS).
The U.S. government recently approved the admission of 11,000 Indochina refugees into this country, of whom 3,000 have been designated for family reunion and 8,000 for non-relative sponsorships. CWS, through which the Episcopal Church works, has accepted responsibility for finding sponsors for 11 per cent of the total.
Among other voluntary agencies which have agreed to accept cases, the U.S. Catholic Conference has taken 35 per cent, and the International Rescue Committee, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the Tolstoy Foundation each accepted 13 per cent of the total.
In the fall of 1975, more than 1,200 Indochina refugees were resettled through the Episcopal Church Center office in New York and a west coast office, in addition to many others sponsored by parishes working directly with voluntary agencies.
Arrangements for sponsorship should be made by June 30. The refugees, who are Laotians, Cambodians, and Vietnamese, are waiting in camps in Bangkok for sponsorship arrangements to be completed by the U.S. voluntary agencies.
Episcopal Church parishes interested in sponsoring a family should call Mrs. Isis Brown, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017, Telephone: 212/867-8400.