It’s 1/1/2019!! Happy New Year AND also Happy Birthday to many of our clients! Did you know that the majority of refugees share the same birthday? It may seem strange, but refugees and asylum seekers who do not know their birthdate or are unable to prove it with an official birth certificate are often given “January 1” as their date of birth for all official documents forward, including their permanent residence. Today is a big day for many.

We recently celebrated our founders birthday by collecting small pots and the ingredients to make porridge. Porridge is a comfort food that many of our clients from African areas are familiar with, love and sometimes miss. While we in America might feel like it isn’t exactly a great meal nor could it be tasty… we have learned that it actually has a lot of “good for you” ingredients that tastes pretty yummy too! It has protein, calcium and other vitamins from the African White Bean Flour, other flours, white corn meal and Nido an instant nutritious milk that Mom’s like to give children. On November 30, our Next Gen Education Group came together to serve, help mix and bag the dry ingredients for the porridge. Jamie enjoyed balloons, cupcakes, cake, flowers and plant gifts, grape juice, sweet encouraging notes from volunteers and each classes Happy Birthday songs. We then delivered the porridge and gave out lots of hugs, smiles and encouragement to our friends. It was a sweet birthday day!! Jamie wants to thank all who helped to make her birthday such a special and memorable day. What a wonderful Asha’s Refuge Family we have. Together we can sure bring joy to many.

We need High School subject volunteer tutors for one on one and small group tutoring… biology, math/algebra, history, grammar, writing and drivers Ed (going through handbook)… times vary. Our students are adults and can arrange their tutoring based on their schedule after classes and weekends. Tutors during school hours are also needed. Email us at serve@ashasrefuge.org for more info about volunteering with us.

Our Pots of Porridge Project to celebrate Jamie’s (our founder) birthday is Tomorrow! It’s not too late to be a part of this celebration project! Watch the video below and then click this link to find out more information: https://ashasrefuge.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/happy-birthday-project-pots-of-porridge/

Click link for more details:

https://ashasrefuge.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/give-back-giving-tuesday-11-27-2018/

Tuesday, November 27, 2018 is Giving Tuesday (learn more about how this day got started and what it’s purpose is below). Two days later is Jamie, our founders birthday! When you give $50 or more this year to Asha’s Refuge, our founder wants to give a gift back to you (more information about that also below)! So, just after the Black Friday shopping frenzy weekend, it’s Giving Tuesday, the first Tuesday after! This is when you consider your own blessings and choose in your heart to give back. You can give to your favorite nonprofit thereby helping them to have funds they need to better serve those they love and let them know you support their cause. We hope you will choose Asha’s Refuge to give back to this year and we want to show you our thanks by finding a way to also try to give back to you. We have designed our Giving program as follows…

Giving Tuesday, November 27, 2019

This year, we want to couple the birthday project Jamie is already working on to bring pots of porridge to those refugee clients in real need with our Giving Tuesday fundraising project. Some of your contributions may go to help us complete our pots of porridge project. Once we have the porridge we need, we will be sure to use funds for our regular refugee programs and organizational needs. When you contribute financially via social media or our online website you could help provide things like:

$50-$100

• Two families with pots and porridge to feed their family a comfort meal they are familiar is healthy and that they love.
• One adult student with a drivers ed classroom course
• Gas for our vans to help transport our clients to and from their American Life and Language Classes
• Four new Mom’s with diapers
• copy paper and copier fees for the organization for 1 week

$150-$300

• program and operational support for a day
• internship program for 1 week
• emergency medical needs for a client
• emergency help with a single mom or elderly friends utility bill
• 2 families with groceries
• required High School senior fees and/or ACT testing for a teen refugee in need
• provides 2-4 infants with car seat

$500-$1000

• pays for 3-4 months of Next Generation Educational Program High School Diploma, Computer and Life Skills Classes for one student
• emergency rent help for single mom or elderly friend in need
• helps to repair a vehicle for client in need
• purchases new mattresses, pillows and blankets for an entire family in need of bedding
• helps a client purchase some initial products to start their own micro business

Wait, there’s more! Sound like an infomercial? When you give at least $50 or more through our Giving Tuesday social media platform, we will put your name in a drawing to win a $150 Visa card for your personal shopping use, a gift to you from our founder Jamie. There will be only one winner; only one name drawn of all of the donations that give over $50 through our social media platforms between the dates: November 23-November 30, 2018 (founders birthday) by midnight. Be sure to send us your name, email address and phone number when you give so that we can be sure to contact you if your name is drawn for the $150 Visa Shopping Card! December 1, 2018 we will draw one givers name who gave $50 or above and give them a gift of thanks ($150 Visa Card) back!

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Update December 2, 2018 – Thank you Catherine Swan for your heart to give so that we can continue to serve our clients well. Our founder, Jamie Jones wants to give back to thank you… she did a drawing for the $150 Visa Card for those who gave the week of her birthday and you won! We thank you for serving and thank you for your kind gift.

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Wondering how you can give? Here’s the link directly to our online PayPal Giving:https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=NSBXC4RGGXGB4

You may also click on the ❤️ logo on the bottom of our websites main page: http://www.ashasrefuge.org or give through the Facebook donate button on our Facebook page if you want. You can also mail your tax deductible checks to Asha’s Refuge, 1035 Winchester Blvd., Suite A216, Collierville, TN 38017 adding a note on your check that it is your GivingTuesday gift.

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Want to know more about what Giving Tuesday is about? Givingtuesday.org tells us: “#GivingTuesday harnesses the potential of social media and the generosity of people around the world to bring about real change in their communities; it provides a platform for them to encourage the donation of time, resources and talents to address local challenges. It also brings together the collective power of a unique blend of partners— nonprofits, civic organizations, businesses and corporations, as well as families and individuals—to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness.”

“Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. Since its inaugural year in 2012, #GivingTuesday has become a movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy with events throughout the year and a growing catalog of resources (GivingTuesday.org)”.

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Giving to Asha’s Refuge allows us to continue our programs that show love and acceptance to newcomers in the most needed areas of their life all the while we empower them to grow, learn and give back to their community. When we give love, love always gives back and ultimately wins! #loveneverfails

Every year when it is our founder, Jamie Jones’ birthday, we choose to do a project that will help our clients because we know that’s what will make her the happiest. Asha’s Refuge began in the heart of Jamie in 2009 & 2010. Deborah Eaton partnered with Jamie, helped to develop the organization and worked with her to gain its 501(c)3 status between 2010 and 2012. The two of them have really done this together with many volunteers, supporters and most of all the grace and mercy of Jesus. One year Asha’s Refuge collected stock pots full of grocery items to make soup. Another year they collected warm fuzzy socks to cover lots of cold feet. And another year, they packaged baked goods for our new friends from all over the world. This year, Asha’s Refuge is making pots of porridge for some of our elderly men and women, single parents and mothers-to-be. This is an African comfort food that many others also will enjoy. It is also believed to be a healthy nutritious meal for pregnant mothers, children and the elderly. We need your help with collecting the items for this project.

Our founders birthday is Friday, November 30th. We’d love to have medium sized nonstick pots, gallon sized bags and several bags of the ingredients needed for us to mix up a large amount of porridge for our clients in need. Please see the various types of baking/cooking ingredients such as flour and corn meal that are needed. Some of these more unfamiliar ingredients can be found at stores like Farmers Market at Kirby and Winchester, Wild Oats and Sprouts. Please contact us to make a convenient plan to drop off these ingredients at serve@ashasrefuge.org or 901-500-9200. You may also feel free to text or call Vivian at 901-337-1180 with any questions.

If you would like to donate towards this project so that we can purchase the porridge ingredients and pots ourself, please donate a suggested amount of $30 per one pot and for the porridge ingredients. $100 would cover 4 to 5 pots of porridge for our clients in need. Donate through PayPal here:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=NSBXC4RGGXGB4

Ingredient List:

Drivers education is an important need for newcomers. Asha’s Refuge has finally connected to the professionals at Maxwell Driving School to assist our clients with learning to drive and understand better road safety. We want to encourage good driving practices for our clients wishing or needing to drive. There is a lot for them to learn and so many of our adult clients need lots of extra practice hours before they feel confident on the road. Unfortunately, many of our clients are adults unable to practice driving with a learners permit with their parents at 16-17 and are now over 18 and often in a desperate need to learn to drive quickly in order to get to work to provide for themselves and their family. Asha’s Refuge has been working hard to build a better plan for our refugee clients to learn to drive.

We currently need good licensed adult drivers willing to help us educate clients working in partnership with Asha’s, Maxwell driving school, an online Drivers Ed Program and then studying the TN drivers handbook. This would be a volunteer position. We need 2 serious volunteers willing to help. Contact us at serve@ashasrefuge.org for more details.

We also need donations of $75 increments to offer 1hr of drivers Ed to our clients. You can donate by clicking the link below to help our clients have the opportunity for training they need. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=fLdIm8XRfya2yCG9ncwnD-_WC42DCjmr2Sy63COz51CGgvC2D3RVj8eyvC-UcjkfOUmO5m&country.x=US&locale.x=US