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During her first year of teaching, Mullens was greeted one morning by a kindergartener that was crying, soaking wet and cold. The little girl had fallen into a puddle while walking to school with her sister. It was the winter, and neither girl had a coat.
When the girls’ father picked them up from school later that day, Mullens asked him if she could take the girls to buy coats. He agreed, so later that day Mullens drove to their apartment. Mullens was greeted by little faces peeking out of the various windows – all wondering what their teacher was doing at their apartment complex.
After returning with the coats, Mullens kept in touch with the girls’ family. Through these check-ins, Mullens began to build a relationship with the family.
Mullens was aware that many of her students were learning English or speaking it as a second language, but it wasn’t until she got to know their families that Mullens learned many were refugees.
“Honestly, I didn’t know anything about refugees until I met them. It wasn’t a topic in the news at the time. Even when I started teaching back in 2006, it wasn’t something that people knew about,” said Mullens. “It was really me experiencing my students, and then researching it was how I learned about it.”
As her relationship with the family developed, Mullens started helping out in other ways. She assisted the parents with securing jobs, helped them access government services that they were eligible for, and taught them how to sort their mail.
“By working with this one family, I realized the depth of the need,” said Mullens. “But it wasn’t just this family. Then there were two, then four, then eight and then 10.”
While Mullens continued teaching the parents life skills – such as identifying junk mail, obtaining a driver’s license, protecting their social security card, and knowing where to look to find a job – she also began learning about the refugee process.
In 2009, after three years of teaching, Mullens quit her job and began serving refugee children and families full time. The following year her husband quit his job at their church to join her in the work. After her husband completed seminary school in 2011, they founded For the Nations Refugee Outreach and were awarded their 501c3 status.
Given the success and need voiced by the community, Mullens says she’s considering long-term options for the learning center.
“I wanted to welcome strangers into our community,” said Mullens when asked what role her faith played in this journey. “I think it’s important to offer hope to people who have experienced really horrific things. Hope – yes, in getting a better education, being successful and getting a job – but ultimately our hope is in Christ.”
“I wanted to take the opportunity to share with people who had come from really difficult places that hope that I have,” said Mullens. “And I want to do that by telling them about Jesus but also by helping them with practical needs.”
The refugee process is an arduous one that can often feel hopeless. In fact, less than 1 percent of refugees get resettled into any country.
When a family does enter the U.S., they are eligible for resettlement services provided by the government to help them get on their feet. Services include training and job development, job placement and skill recertification. When the refugee resettlement program began in 1975, refugees received five years of support, however, due to program budget cuts, refugees now receive three months of support.
This shortened resettlement period has created opportunity for community organizations to bridge the gap between arrival and self-sufficiency. This is where Mullens and her team at For the Nations has stepped in.
The mission of For the Nations Refugee Outreach is to provide educational and family services that help meet the practical needs of refugees and to share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
FTNRO’s strategy is to help educate refugee children and their parents in basic language and literacy, to support the acculturation process, and to provide training in life and job skills. FTNRO presents a gospel message at each language class, offers pastoral training, develops community events in partnership with churches, provides summer Bible school, Bible studies for adults and children, builds strong healthy relationships, and includes Christian teaching through overt gospel presentation and Bible reading in all preschool, after-school, and educational courses for adults and children.
The Rees-Jones Foundation supports experiences for children and youth that build Christian discipleship, cultivate character, and teach healthy lifestyles. The hope is for youth to have experiences that instill moral character, introduce a Christian world view, and develop qualities of a Christian servant leader, such as humility and integrity.
The Foundation has also supported the following organizations that serve refugee populations:
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