Our partnership with Sunnyvale Refugee Center starts to take shape!

Good meeting at the Sunnyvale Community Center on Thursday, August 9. In attendance: Laurie Summers Pisani, Frank Lilly, Kim Williams, Margareta Vlasic, Susan Marks, Shannon Tilly, Mustafa Celebi, Sonia Woodbury. Visitor: Mark Holland

Club members spoke with Ellie Goldberg, Coordinator; Ze Xiao, Salt Lake County; DeAndre, Complex Manager;

Shu Cheng, Executive Director Refugee & Immigrant Center; Kendrick, Refugee Services Office

We toured the space for the center:  4 rooms, 2 bathrooms. Nice space with a lot of potential. They need to make the space ADA accessible, by building a ramp at the entrance and widening the doorways.  They also need to enlarge a bathroom.

They are looking for volunteer contractors to complete these projects. They need to fill the list of supplies and have a fund raiser for the monthly rent of $750 plus utilities.

They have grant money to provide two after school programs.  One for the elementary and one for Jr./Sr. High students (Max. 25 each)  They will be holding these programs at a nearby park until the building is complete.

Activities scheduled for the center include:  After school snack for the children prior to homework help, tutoring, computer access, adult ESL classes, meeting place to strengthen the community, life skills classes, etc.

They are combining  funds from the state, county, city, resettlement agency and private donations.

It is a terrific project based on the success of other community centers in the area. Our help is much needed. We will discuss more at our next meeting on the 30th.

President Laurie ~ Thanks Mustafa for taking the photos!