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The College of Southern Idaho Refugee Programs works with refugees who are destined for the Magic Valley. Refugees are defined as those persons who have fled their country because of a "well founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion." The college works with the refugees to help them integrate into their new community. The program works to help the refugees find work and a place to live. The Twin Falls school district has students who speak 29 different languages, which is an indication of the number of different countries of origin for the local refugee community. In the past the program has been responsible for assisting an average of 300 families a year and this year they are on track to work with up to 315 families. The work with the families for up to 8 months and then the families are on their own.
The purpose of the Magic Valley Refugee Day is to provide up to 9 groups of refugees from an area or nationality the opportunity to share their customs, culture, dress, dance, singing and food. The cost for the project is to provide each group with $350 to help offset the costs they incur to participate. The program is open to the community and community members are encouraged to come and meet their new community members to gain an appreciation for who they are and what they can contribute to the local community.
The event has been successfully held in the past using a source of Federal Funds. Those funds are no longer available. We feel that this would be a good opportunity to further our Rotary presence in the community by sponsoring the event in June 2015. This will give the CSI program the opportunity to find a more permanent sponsorship for the event. They currently have $300 in donations which includes in-kind donations from Solo for paper goods. In 2015 the program is being moved from the city park to the CSI Campus where there will be more room for the event. The total cost of the program is $3,500.00. As Rotarians we would work with the CSI Refugee Center to assist in the set up for the event and would have a booth of our own where we would provide information on Rotary and the programs that we as Rotarians support through the Rotary Foundation. Our involvement would likely be 10-15 members volunteering 4-6 hours per person.
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