Actual numbers will, of course, vary by family.  Size of family, health care needs, education requirements, English language ability, background like experiences - all of these will play a factor in the volunteer effort and the amount of time needed to help with their adjustment to a new life.

In addition to time there will be expenses.  At first the largest expense will typically be housing.  The second greatest expense will typically be food.  Both of these will vary depending on family size and location of resettlement.

Since I started this blog series as a case study of our current refugee resettlement case I’d like to demonstrate the effort that we’ve already expended.

The family arrived on July 21.  Through July 31 our resettlement team contributed 69.75 hours, had driven 552 miles, and spent $750.97.  The biggest segment of time (32.25 hours) related to housing issues, mostly preparation of space and coordination of donations.  The largest expense ($377) was food.  

In August our resettlement team added 286.5 hours, drove 1,081.5 miles, and spent $772.41.  The greatest use of time was, once again housing, with 145 hours.  Move-in day was in August so many people were involved with transporting donated goods and helping to convert an empty house into a home.  Again the biggest expense was food with $462 in that category.

So, our six week summary reports 356.25 hours of volunteer time, $1,523.38 spent on their behalf, and 1633.5 miles driven.

Volunteer time will drop significantly in September.  Since 30 days has passed and the family now has a food assistance card, our obligation to pay for food has ended.  They are receiving cash in the form of a matching grant so we should not have to pay for incidentals at this point either.

Our total expenses will go up for the next couple months, however.  Because of timing, in this resettlement case we were able to apply some of the refugee’s own resettlement grant money to the first month’s rent and security deposit.  That’s why housing was not our greatest expense above. 

Since the family is enrolled in the matching grant program we cannot use their matching grant funds for their own housing.  Therefore, our financial assistance for housing will take a big jump up in September.

One of our co-chairs and her husband went to the family’s house twice today.  First she returned some bedding that she had taken home to wash, and she picked up more blankets to launder later.  Yesterday we believed that the wash machine in the house did not work.  Today the consensus is that it works, but the cold water delivery isn’t up to par.  It will have to be fixed.

The first cultural lesson of the day could also be considered a food safety lesson.  This is a lesson we’ve had to teach to several families.  That is, leftover food should be refrigerated. 

In this case leftover chicken from yesterday’s lunch was discovered in a bowl in the cupboard.  We’ve seen other families use cupboards, the oven, and even microwave oven as food storage places.  If you consider their past, from days in a refugee camp, having leftover food is probably not a very usual problem.  And, when it is, you would want to store somewhere that bugs or other animals will not get it.  If a refrigerator is unavailable you’d work with what you have.

Common language is not necessary to teach this lesson.  Simply pointing, and explaining that it belongs in the refrigerator, while putting it in there is generally sufficient.  The lesson may need to be repeated before it really sticks.  We’ll also put this on our list of things to discuss further the next time we have the convenience of an interpreter.

On the second trip, our co-chair returned the freshly laundered blankets and supervised the delivery of new bed rails and the box spring mattress for a queen size bed.  She and her husband also swapped out the mattress on a twin size bed with a brand new mattress that was donated. 

They also demonstrated how to use the alarm function on the alarm clock the family received.  It seemed rather complicated so we may need to replace the clock with a simpler one at some point.  The use of an alarm clock becomes important when we schedule early appointments and becomes much more critical once employment is obtained.

Several bicycles were donated.  These are great for family members to get around and explore their neighborhood.  Until they master the local bus service and/or get a car the bikes can be a way to move around independently.  Someone on our resettlement team will have to take a look to make sure they’re all safe with tires properly inflated.

A retired plumber from our church stopped by the house to fix an outside water faucet.  It was dripping, OK running, much more than it should in an off position.  No point in running up extra water utility bills.

The other co-chair took the family grocery shopping.  This resulted in another cultural lesson.  Fortunately she noticed, before leaving the house, that one of the adults entered the minivan barefoot.  She had to point out that footwear is required in grocery stores.  This resulted in some conversation and the ultimate acquisition of shoes, potentially borrowed from someone else in the family.

While grocery shopping they indicated a need to purchase shoes.  Since the grocery store was not next to a shoe store that purchase will have to wait.

Overall the family seemed happy and pretty comfortable in their new home.