International Rescue Committee in Spokane

We joined with local partners today at Spokane’s Disaster Assistance Center (DAC) and were inspired by the many organizations providing essential items and services to those impacted by the Spokane Complex Fires. We saw hundreds of people today accessing support specific to their needs from organizations that were eager to provide relief. We will continue to be at the DAC over the next several days giving out water and masks and sharing information about our fire response services.

While we specialize in supporting refugees and immigrants, IRC works to respond to conflict and disaster, both worldwide and here in our community. We provide critical stabilization services and comprehensive, trauma-informed support to individuals and families impacted by emergencies, displacement, and other life challenges.

All services are free and available to the broader community, including family and mental health support services, mobile case management, navigating disaster aid applications and claims, tenant advocacy and transitional housing search, food and water distribution, and free phone plans and digital devices.

We want to be here to offer help in ways that are needed, just like our partners are showing up to help us meet the needs of our clients. A special thank you to SNAP and Spokane Regional Health District for responding so quickly today to our urgent need for masks and providing us with several hundred to hand out at our office and at this event. And another special thank you to Spokane County Emergency Management and Spokane Public Schools for organizing the Disaster Assistance Center and providing such an impactful way for the community to come together!

This might just look like a picture of Shadle Park High School, but what’s happening inside the school is a caring community in action!

Inside is a free, drop-in summer day camp for families affected by the fires. In addition to the games, activities, and lunch for kids, there are areas for families to get food, clothing, and other support.

We were there to participate in a community convening for immediate and long-term fire response efforts, hosted by Spokane Public Schools, Innovia, the American Red Cross Northwest Region, and city and county officials. The auditorium was filled with individuals from non-profits, faith communities, local businesses, and public health and education leaders who all came with resources to coordinate and share.

City of Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown spoke to the incredible work of firefighters and community members. She shared that incident response teams from across the state and country who are here to help have remarked that it is unprecedented in emergency response to see a city come together so well and so quickly as they’re seeing in Spokane’s fire response. She said she has no doubt that recovery efforts over the coming months will be met with the same spirit and effectiveness.

It is inspiring to be part of a community that demonstrates unity and strength during hard times. It’s equally heartening to be part of a team at IRC who brings that same level of dedication to community to their work. In the last 3 days, our colleagues, many who have been displaced by the fires themselves, have rallied to speak to over 100 clients to assess safety, survey needs, and offer mobile outreach and case management.

It was evident today that Spokane is special. Spokane shows up, and with the community’s combined efforts working together to make a difference for those affected, we will all be stronger.

Our thoughts and hearts are with everyone affected by the Spokane wildfires. We are working to support evacuated colleagues and clients and sending strength and hope to the entire community.

We want to give a heartfelt thank you to the firefighters who are bravely working to keep Spokane safe, and thank you to Spokane County Emergency Management team for the clear communication, alerts, and updated maps. It was hugely helpful to be able to direct the hundreds of clients on our language broadcast channels to translated emergency information.

This guide from Spokane NAACP has information about local resources to support with different needs and areas of assistance. We will continue sharing timely updates with clients and answering questions on our language broadcast channels to help make sure everyone has what they need during this time because we are all in this together!

Today is the 93rd birthday of the International Rescue Committee (IRC.) We are proud of the life saving work of IRC teams across the globe and proud of the life changing work of our colleagues, community members, and clients right here in Spokane.

“It’s up to us all to keep taking action. Let’s roll up our sleeves, raise our voices, and match the courage of those we serve so that children survive, families recover, and communities rebuild.”

Today, we hope you take a minute to eat something sweet, enjoy this tribute video, and celebrate the work we’ve done together! And if you’d like to get involved with our work here locally, you can email [email protected] or donate to IRC Spokane at https://help.rescue.org/donate/us-spokane-wa

Who we are | The IRC Join the IRC in helping children survive, families recover, and communities rebuild. You can be part of spreading hope in the shape of an arrow.

We have loved getting to participate in the Global Food & Art Market this summer! It’s been wonderful meeting so many people who operate and/or support refugee and immigrant owned small businesses.

We’ve enjoyed seeing the variety of international foods, handmade crafts, and live music featured, and we’re excited to have been introduced to community members who want to learn more about volunteering, accessing services, or advocating for our work. It’s such a welcoming space that connects neighbors and cultures right here in Spokane, and we’re glad we got to be a part of it!

Organizations like the IRC and Manzanita House provide legal support to unaccompanied children, but federal funding is essential to keeping these services going.

We urge the administration to continue funding this critical program and protect children from trafficking, exploitation, and other abuse.

Our Health & Wellness team just completed a three year lead prevention program in partnership with the Spokane Regional Health District, Washington State Department of Health, and the Washington Department of Ecology.

Early on in our work, we noticed that many of our clients were arriving in Spokane with elevated blood lead levels that continued to increase beyond their initial resettlement. Alongside these partners, we identified the cause to be heirloom pressure cookers that were being used to make food multiple times a day, as well as surma, a traditional eye liner that is significant in many cultures for women and children.

Together, we developed pot exchange events where clients could receive a new, stainless steel pressure cooker and makeup kits with supplies to make safe, non-toxic surma that reflects cultural and religious standards. These events provided health education about the dangers of lead exposure and cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes about how to combat lead poisoning through food. Additionally, CHAS Health was on site to provide medical testing and connection to primary care providers for follow up care.

In doing this, not only were we able to serve hundreds of families, totaling thousands of newcomers exposed to lead, but we were also able to identify and seek treatment for an individual with Spokane’s highest recorded case of lead poisoning on record in the city’s history.

Lead poisoning can have serious side effects for the brain, blood, and kidneys, leading to cognitive impairment, extreme fatigue, headaches, nausea, and infertility. We have been proud to provide effective and culturally informed services in multiple languages to clients and community members to prevent and/or resolve these types of issues.

Thank you to our partners who have joined us in this work over the years to make all of this possible, and thank you to Council President Betsy Wilkerson for coming to learn about this program, meet our team and clients, and support our efforts to build a healthy community for everyone!

Thanks to our partners at Community-Minded Enterprises for coming to our office to do outreach and help clients sign up for their Early Childhood Education Assistance Program (ECEAP) that offers free, comprehensive preschool education and family services at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.

This program is extremely valuable to families, and spots are hard to come by so we are so appreciative to the Community Minded Enterprise for making them available to our clients and helping them get registered!

We were doubly happy that Council Member Sarah Dixit came by during the event to see our work in action and discuss the benefits of wraparound services to help community members succeed. It’s amazing to know our elected officials care about the work we do and to learn about all of the ways they’re working hard to make Spokane a place where everyone belongs!

Katie, one of our incredible volunteers who also happens to be the creative talent behind Flowers for People, hosted some of our clients last week for a beautiful day at her garden.

Everyone spent time talking, laughing, picking flowers, and putting together their own bouquet. Clients expressed how special their time there was and staff remarked about how happy it made them to see so much joy on clients’ faces. Katie shared that it was a dream to have so many wonderful women from all around the world gathered together learning from each other and becoming friends.

The warmth from the day wasn’t just from the sunshine, it also came from community!