North Huntingdon church hosts immigrant families
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A North Huntingdon church with a mission to help international families adjust to life in Westmoreland County treated some of those families to an experience as American as a slice of apple pie.
Calvary Church took three immigrant families out to the ballgame at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on June 30 to see the Pittsburgh Pirates — the first time they had ever seen a baseball game, said the Rev. Nick Poole.
The difficulties that the families were having understanding what was occurring on the baseball field below them mirrored some of the challenges they have faced in understanding the culture of this country.
“They have some suspicion of receiving help from institutions,” whether it is the government or a church, Poole said of the families from Ukraine, Mexico, Cambodia and Columbia who the church’s Calvary Cares program is seeking to help. The program has members who have been trained to be family advocates, to help these immigrants understand “how things are done in this country,” Poole said.
“They take it as someone trying to manipulate them. From our perspective, this is how we become assimilated,” Poole said. The assistance they are reluctant to receive to help them understand life in this country “are things that have been used to suppress them,” Poole said.
Poole told the story of one Ukrainian who was traveling to Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, yet did not want to use the state’s E-Z Pass system, even though he was told it would save him money, because it was a method of the government tracking his travel.
“They’ve lived under regimes. They’re interacting in a way that is different in our environment.
“Our challenge is to be empathetic,” Poole said.
While initiatives to help them land a job is important, Poole said he believes that it is even more important for programs to be able to get the immigrant families connected to the community.
“It is the relationships they make and feeling their family is safe and welcome. If we can help them early on, get them connected here and then set down roots here” they may stay, Poole said.