Mission
Empowering through art, service, and community.
Vision
We Find in Love aims to maintain a collaborative, creative, and empowering learning environment that fosters community and encourages independence to help refugees and others underserved bringing equal opportunities regardless of nationality.
Values
We believe that strength and healing start with self-care and are fostered in community.
We want to help our friends from all nations and walks of life become independent and follow their dreams by connecting them to the resources offered in an encouraging and uplifting environment.
We believe in the power of unity and know that by providing a safe place to fellowship they will find community, and in community there is hope, and in hope there is happiness.
History
We Find In Love is a certified 501(c)(3) art program who strives to empower through art, service, and community. After a mission trip in the spring of 2018, WFiL was born out of a passion for working with refugee women in the Middle East. Our Jordan chapter, Call Her Blessed led by Randa Hamam, has served over 1,600 families with food security support, the building up of female leaders, and planting hundreds of home churches. Yearly mission trips are taken to support the staff there, lead a women’s conference containing an art element, and attend home visits. Our latest trip was during Spring Break 2023 where we held another women’s conference teaching and learning together over 4 days in 4 different areas in Jordan. In 2019 WFiL and our Jordanian team opened a multicultural center to house a central location for more education and fellowship opportunities targeting Jordan’s female refugee and underprivileged populations, however the COVID pandemic forced us to close the doors and reallocate the funding to crisis relief. Unsure of when international travel would be an option, we decided to work on growing our local chapter here in Amarillo. During the pandemic we served close to one thousand kids in the Texas Panhandle with art and activity bags traveling out as far as Perryton. We Find In Love is a three tier organization covering our Jordan chapter, the PLACE, and local art programs.
The PLACE, a community and resource center focusing on refugee support, came together through collaborative efforts with our partners Refugee Language Project and Square Mile. With each organizations’ complimenting strengths and already active programs, we saw where we could join forces to fill an education and community support gap in Amarillo’s underserved populations from around the globe. In late 2021 the Afghan crisis expanded the need for more resources and support for our asylum seeking friends. This opening came after a year of research, canvasing properties, interviewing local nonprofits and communities, and seeking out future partnerships. Not including secondary migration due to Amarillo’s affordable living opportunities, our resettlement agencies received over 200 Afghan refugees who would need assistance in language support and life skills as they acclimate into a new culture. The PLACE has aimed to make partnerships to support these resettlement agencies along side our clients and friends regardless of race, gender, or religious orientation. A day in the life of the bustling community center would typically consist of life skills assistance like job applications and asylum paperwork to recurring programs like ESL, P.A.T.H. programs, computer skills and arts opportunities, afternoon homework help, or Community Table all housing an average of 160 visitors per week. We Find In Love has taken on managing responsibilities for the PLACE and, along side our collaborators, the building of relationships with our clients and nonprofit partners to grow and bend with the ever changing seasons together.
We love working along side other local nonprofits. This last year we continued partnerships with local organizations including The Amarillo Children’s Home, Eastridge Mission Center, and Leaders Readers Network offering hundreds of Amarillo’s kids fun and educational arts and craft experiences. In the spring of 2022 we were honored to receive the Arts & Culture Grant allowing us to offer Adobe software free of charge at the PLACE. We have held youth programs like beginners photoshop and book design and been able to teach adults young and young-at-heart ranging from simple photo editing to beginning career opportunities in the computer arts and marketing field.
These local art programs and our international chapter have taught us the value in collaborating giving us the experience and partnerships to take advantage of this incredible opportunity of opening, managing, and maintaining Amarillo’s refugee focused community center, the PLACE.
Needs Statement
1 in 77 people in our world have been forced to leave their home country, community, and education opportunities. Jordan, the country of our Middle East chapter, houses upwards of 1.3 million families and individuals seeking refuge. A growing 15,000 of these world wide refugees have made Amarillo their home. After the crisis in Afghanistan’s evacuation of over 130,000 Afghans fleeing from the Taliban’s rule, violence, and exclusion of women’s rights to education and safety, the world braced itself to receive more asylum seeking refugees through resettlement agencies and secondary migration. Our displaced families and individuals only account for part of our underserved populations and we strive to be available for all of these communities, especially women who culturally are often discarded and profoundly underserved.
*This chart shows Amarillo’s refugee population, the many nations and cultures that are represented in the Texas Panhandle. Data provided by Refugee Language Project, a partner at the PLACE.
Solution
We saw the gap in opportunities for the many vulnerable people groups including our immigrant and refugee neighbors, so with partnering non profit organizations we opened the first multicultural center in Amarillo, community minded with a refugee focus. The PLACE for Language, Art, Culture, and Economic growth. Seeing the impact that this has had in the Texas Panhandle, we have believed that this will be an impactful space for the women in Jordan as well.
Impact
In 2022, we had over 7,000 friends and volunteers walk through our doors at the PLACE. We have seen during our time working with refugees and other international migrants that by taking a collaborative approach, we have been able to serve as a resource hub working along side the resettlement agencies and other nonprofit partners.
In our international chapter over 1600 families have continued to receive food support, English classes, Bible courses, and leadership opportunities empowering the women from all areas of the Middle East to not only thrive but to lead.
Programs and Services
We Find In Love manages the PLACE’s facility and together each partnering organization is responsible for bringing in new revenue and collaboration opportunities. Within the collaboration, we are able to provide English classes, translation services, small business guidance, computer skills, community outreach opportunities, and traditional and computer arts classes.
Our Client Services Management is key in helping friends and neighbors with support in understanding our culture and helping with lifeskill issues including assistance with mail sorting and understanding, asylum/immigrant paperwork support, continuing education options, employment opportunities, and access to resources with the goal of a thriving independence.
We Find in Love also brought in the computer bar and internet allowing free access to all visitors. These computers are also used for Adobe art programs and computer skills classes for all ages. Our adult refugee clients have found that a base knowledge in computer skill has benefited them in a significant way while looking for employment and has also been a blessing for our youth programs with access to the internet for their schooling and seasonal art programing opportunities.
Community Table acts as a low pressure environment to come together from all nations and walks of life to share a meal and enjoy community support and access to needed resources.
Our Middle East Chapter offers their refugee and underserved women and families support with a whole person approach. While their refugee populations are currently not allowed to seek employment under their status, Call Her Blessed offers not only food and life skills support, but also opportunities to learn Biblical truths and develop leadership skills. Hundreds of micro churches have been created through this partnership, and yearly mission trip opportunities are available.
Local (Texas) art programs are held in various locations with many different partners building community among nonprofits and the people groups we are privileged to serve.
Community Outreach and Partnerships
Our greatest strength is in showing the viability of this collaborative center concept and is highlighted by the championing partnerships in our resettlement agencies, Amarillo nonprofits, and local churches where we know that we are all stronger together and see no benefit in competition in this field of service.
Refugee Language Project houses many of their programs at the PLACE including translation services, their Storybook Project, ESL classes (held three times a week at the PLACE), and a place for their mentors and mentees to meet and have access to extra support.
Square Mile not only acts as a crucial Client Services Management partner, but has also brought with them their expertise in low income and underserved communities. Their PATH program is offered to our community and is highlighted at the PLACE as an opportunity for our refugee population to dream and take steps towards being local business owners. Square Mile also offers their food distribution here expanding their reach in the Texas Panhandle.
By partnering with our resettlement agencies, Catholic Charities and Refugee Services of Texas, we can collectively offer more support and education resources filling the gap as we communicate to avoid unnecessary duplication of services. Our joining in after school homework with Catholic Charities is a great example of the benefit in combining forces for a common goal.
Other partnerships at the PLACE:
Amarillo Public Health
Amarillo Police Department
AmeriCorps
RAC meetings, where people who work with refugees in any capacity can come together to share their experiences, troubles, and successes!
Catholic Charities Resettlement Agencies
For our art programs we have partnered with:
Amarillo Children’s Home
Eastridge Mission Center
Leaders Readers Network
…and we are always looking for new nonprofits to partner with at the PLACE, for our art programs, or to support our missions in Jordan!
Facilities and Services Delivery
Knowing, in Amarillo, the Afghan group of new arrivals would be mostly housed in the nearby Astoria Park, we felt a Multicultural Community Center location at 3107 Plains Blvd #500 would meet the most need as it is walking distance in an area already housing over 17% of Amarillo’s known refugee and immigrant population (*See chart).
We dream of having the PLACE Jordan to support our refugee and underserved populations, especially after seeing the impact our local center has had on our friends and neighbors. However, at this current time, our opportunities are housed out of apartments and small even spaces around different areas in Amman, Jordan.
Governance
Board of Directors
Megan Brown, President
Darlene Martin, Secretary
Jenna Brown, Treasurer
Katherine Gurley, Board Chair
Jennifer Rush, Board Chair
Atlanta Dumas, Board Chair
Staffing
Emma Rohrs, CEO
Sara Walsh, COO
About us…
The idea for We Find in Love (WFiL) started when Jennifer Rush, Lindsay Davis, Joy Berry, and Emma Rohrs had the opportunity to work with a group of refugee women in the Middle East. While these refugees had some of the basic necessities such as food or clothes, thanks to local refugee relief groups, it was clear that the area WFiL was called to was helping these brave, creative women find an outlet and opportunities to learn skills to move forward with their future.
We Find in Love is a certified 501(c)3 non-profit in Amarillo, Texas. We were established in late 2018 and have since been working with the refugee communities both here and in the Middle East.