We have some great news. Last week, one of our Syrian friends was hired by Pilgrim Place as a full-time painter. He’d been working night shifts at a bakery where hot temperatures and hard working conditions took their toll. Before he arrived in the U.S., he'd been a residential and commercial painter for a living and he hoped he could find similar work here. He was thrilled to be hired by Pilgrim Place. We heard that he came home from his first day of work Monday, happier than he'd been a long time (there may even have been some singing). Pilgrim Place is such a warm and embracing place. He was touched that he boss and the people he works with were so kind. And finally, after 14 months, he gets to stay home nights and enjoy dinner with his family.
A big congrats!
We are in the process of growing and changing. Our team has added two new members.
Anita Shenoi will be joining us for a summer internship, thanks to a grant from her college’s Mgrublian Center for Human Rights. She’s the community liaison for the 5C Refugee Advocacy Network (RAN), working to create opportunities for the college community to connect with Syrian families settled here. She’s also been an English tutor for the families. We’re super excited to have her help coordinate events, advance our social media outreach, and oversee the booming demand for Supper Club.
Anita square dancing with President Jimmy Carter in his hometown of Plains, Georgia!
Dr. Anne Bennett has also joined the Canopy family as head of the Job Committee. Many of us worked with her last year when some of our families arrived, helping to find them housing and furniture. She’s an anthropologist who’s taught at the University of Arizona, California State University and Citrus College. She also spent four years as the Assistant Director of the University of Arizona's Center for Middle East Studies. Her ethnographic fieldwork in Syria, conducted in the mid-1990s, focused on the Druze sect. Lucky for us, she’s proficient in Arabic!
