Dear Friend of RT,
Warm holiday greetings! We hope 2010 has been a healthy and happy year for all of you.
Despite the economic downturn, 2010 has been a year of expansion for Refugee Transitions. Since 2008, our budget has increased by 38% and we have doubled the number of clients served.
As more refugees are displaced every day and forced to rebuild their lives in new countries, RT is experiencing a significant increase in demand for our services. We need more support to be able to improve the quality of life of hundreds more refugees and immigrants here in the Bay Area.
 Please make a gift to RT so that we can continue to send siblings like Faustine and Justine to our annual summer camp for refugee youth and train new Refugee Youth Leaders like Lia Lian - who you'll hear from in RT's inspiring new documentary.
Currently, we have a significant wait list of youth and adults who need our services to help them achieve their academic, employment, and life goals. We are determined to help these individuals, and it is in this spirit that we are turning to you for support.
Please give now so together we can bring joy and a greater sense of empowerment to the lives of refugees and low-income immigrants throughout the Bay Area.
Thank you for making RT what it is today, and what it will be tomorrow.
With gratitude,
Laura Vaudreuil
Executive Director |
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Recently Launched - The RT BlogRefugee Transitions is very excited to announce the launch of our new blog! We'll be posting student stories, staff and board insights, our volunteer of the week, refugee news, activities and events around the Bay Area, and much more. Subscribe to our RSS feed or add us to your Google Homepage/ Google Reader (see button below) to keep up to date with RT! 
Also, we would love for the RT community to be actively involved in our blog and welcome guest bloggers and contributors. Please email Sandy ( sandy@reftrans.org) if you have any suggestions, ideas, or material you'd like to share!
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 2010 World of Difference Events - Raised $32,000
Refugee Transitions held two World of Difference events in 2010 and raised $32,000 (an amazing amount, yet shy of our goal of $45,000) that will go towards providing essential programs and services to refugees and low-income immigrants in Alameda, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties.
We held our annual benefit luncheon at The City Club in downtown San Francisco on November 3rd, and our second benefit dinner at Adobe Lodge in Santa Clara on November 17th. Overall, there were almost 200 guests in attendance, including a few of our amazing students from Bhutan, Burma, and Burundi.
At the luncheon and dinner events, we introduced our new documentary and featured volunteers and students who spoke about their experiences working with RT (see article below for links to their speeches).
We are especially thankful for our generous sponsors who helped make this year's events a success - CVPartners, Roll International, and the Presbytery of San Jose. If you weren't present at our luncheon (or wish to increase your giving to RT), you can make a contribution by clicking here.
To view photos from the events, click here.
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Student and Volunteer Insights:
Til Gurung and Mari Loria
 | | Til speaking at the luncheon |
This year at our annual World of Difference events, we were honored to have several students and volunteers speak about their experiences working with our organization. Here are some highlights from volunteer Mari Loria and one of our Community Navigator Interns, Til Gurung. Both spoke at our World of Difference Benefit Luncheon in San Francisco.
My name is Til Gurung. I am a Community Navigator Intern with Refugee Transitions, where I help my community access important services and make a successful transition into their lives in the United States.
I am a refugee from Bhutan. My community is Bhutanese, but we have a Nepali heritage and culture. Though we lived peacefully in Bhutan for many years, as our community grew, the Bhutanese government began to feel threatened. Thus, they initiated an ethnic cleansing program to force us from our homes. We had no choice but to flee to Nepal to save our lives. After twenty years in the Nepali refugee camps, we saw that there was no possibility of returning home. So we opted to apply for resettlement to the United States, hoping that we could begin our lives again...
Click here to view the rest of Til's speech.
I've been a psychotherapist for many years. About a year ago I made a resolution to do something new and different, to work with people in a way I had never done, to learn some new skills and to open myself up to learning from people who come from a world I don't know.
After some initial training I was matched with a wonderful family, the Gurungs. My student is the mother in this family. Her name is Far Maya. She is the only family member who did not speak any English, and who does not read or write in her native Nepali as well, as she had never been to school...
Click here to view the rest of Mari Loria's speech.
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  | | Source: The New York Times |
RT currently serves over 125 Burmese refugees and immigrants in the Bay Area through our various programs and services.
Myanmar Refugees Spilling into Thailand
Seth Mydens, The New York Times
Clashes between an ethnic rebel group in Myanmar and goverment soldiers have pushed a flood of at least 10,000 refugees across a river into Thailand, one day after Myanmar held its first election in 20 years. In the attack, ethnic Karen rebels seized a police station and post office on Sunday in the border town of Myawaddy, wounding at least 10 people on both sides of the river, according to reports from the border.
To continue reading the article - click on this link. |
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Join Our Donor Circle
Refugee Transitions would like to express heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to our donors and supporters. If you're not already a member of our donor circle and would like to join, please click here.
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Thank you to our individual donors!
RT would like to thank the members of our 3-year giving circle as well as our 1-year donors. We would not be able to continue or enhance our programming and services without your support and generosity!
Please click here to view a list of our main contributors.
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Thank you to our Foundation, Corporate, and Government donors!
Please click here
to view a complete list of our foundation, corporate, and government donors. |
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