Redding Refugee Sponsor Circle

Roughly two years ago, the Vanegas family fled their home in Venezuela, a nation that’s been in freefall for over a decade. The local currency is now nearly worthless, with inflation running close to 100% annually, down from a peak of 60,000% just 6 years ago. The minimum wage is less than $10 a month, and food scarcity is so widespread that, according to one study, Venezuelans reported losing an average of 24 pounds. More than 80% of the population is now living in poverty. With their son Christopher, Lerwin and Yaneth escaped to Colombia, where they registered with the United Nations refugee agency and waited. And waited, and waited… During the final days of 2019, a son Moises was born and still the family waited for the opportunity to come to the United States, legally.

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Meanwhile, Redding Refugee Sponsor Circle applied to Welcome Corps looking for just such a family.  Welcome Corps works with the US State Department to enable groups of private citizens (like ours!) to bring legal immigrants to sustainable self-sufficiency in their local communities.  In August, our group was notified that a match had been found, and preparations have begun in earnest to welcome the Vanegas family to Redding. ​Among the services our group will provide the family are housing, cultural orientation, employment resources, and assistance getting connected to medical and mental health care, benefits, and services. Even before the arrival date is finalized, household furnishings and appliances are being sourced for an apartment where the family will start their lives anew, and arrangements are being made to enroll Christopher in a local elementary school where he can get extra help for his immersion into the third grade in English.

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Christopher’s parents arrive with work authorizations and social security cards. They pay state and federal taxes immediately on all income earned and will be eligible to apply for citizenship in five years, by which time they will be well along the path that most of our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents took before us.

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The path to citizenship can be long and full of uncertainty, but we are excited to know that the Vanegas family are one step closer to achieving the security and freedom that will enable them to give their children a brighter future, just like the one our predecessors secured for us.

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