We are excited to annouce that Asha’s Refuge will be moving into new shared classroom space with Hope Apostolic Church at 5645 Spring Lake Road in Memphis, TN, 38135 in order to grow and meet the needs of our clients.  Hope Apostolic has blessed us by being willing to share about half of their building space for us to use for classrooms and offices throughout the week.  The church is located about 10 minutes from Bartlett area refugees and about 10-15 minutes from Binghampton, Berclair and Highland/Summer area refugees.  We are trusting that God will continue to help us with transportation needs to and from classes.  We have repeatedly experienced the blessings of local churches who openly give and serve with Asha’s Refuge and believe God’s hand has been on us from the very beginning helping to make our vision to love and serve the nations a reality.  Pastor Ronnie Hayse at Hope Apostolic has a humble heart for reaching the nations, loving and serving all people, and setting aside differences for the sake of expanding the kingdom.  Pastor Hayse and his church are eager to volunteer and be encouragers to those who serve or are clients at Asha’s Refuge.  We want to pray for and encourage his church as they take steps forward into something very unfamiliar culturally for most of them but also new and exciting.  Several refugee clients have been visiting Hope Apostolic Church and are hungry to grow and give back to others. 

Asha’s Refuge truly thanks Highland Heights Baptist Church and Memphis Collegiate School for the past three plus years for blessing us with the use of their shared space and trust our season to make this move is right on time as their school continues to grow.  We thank them for always having open doors to Asha’s Refuge and for the many members of their church for serving and giving of themselve as they do.  We are happy that volunteers from Highland Heights will continue to serve with us.  God is good!  Our move is certainly bittersweet.  This church has loved us well. 
Our classes at Hope Apostolic Church will begin August 15th which is a Tuesday!  We will hold American Life and Language Classes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10-12 and need lots of volunteer drivers, office helpers, teachers and assistants including preschool teachers to work from 9:30-12:30!  We also plan to hold 8-12 week classes in all sorts of areas such as art, music, math and personal financing, job skills and job coaching, basic computer skills, health and hygiene, classroom drivers ed., English conversation, beginners citizenship, TN HiSetand ACT prep., etc.  If you have a skill or gift and would like to help us by leading a class or helping with a class, please let us know!

Our resource center will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays where we will help with Family Services such as maneuvering through American Systems and paperwork processes, understanding mail, obtaining various Identification Cards, understanding and managing health insurance paperwork, making doctor appointments, assisting with refugee immigration documentation and providing mentorship and help with a lot of other social service type needs.  Our resource center is currently open with a smaller staff of volunteers working through the summer.  If you are interested in volunteering to help us on one of these days in the resource center, please let us know!!  

Come to our upcoming Volunteer Orientation if you want to volunteer or just learn more about Asha’s Refuge.  We have our next one Saturday, June 17 at 9:30am at 1035 Winchester in Collierville, TN which is inside another partner church, High Point!!  We are truly blessed with many churches who support our effort to love the nations as we believe Jesus would do!  

We have about one and a half months to make ready several empty rooms at our new shared classroom and office space.  See pictures attached.  If you can help paint, do flooring, have connections for used office, computer, preschool or classroom equipment, please let us know!!  Groups are welcome to help.  Contact jamie@ashasrefuge.org.