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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2018)
PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 20, 2018 Travel ban impacting local Community garden refugee resettlement efforts needs help to go solar By CASEY CHAFFIN Keizertimes Intern In the two and a half years since the Salem-Keizer area be- came a new Oregon hub of ref- ugee resettlement, 220 refugees have been resettled in the area. Refugees, who often arrive in family units, have been aided in their transition to a new coun- try and a new life by Salem for Refugees, a local volunteer or- ganization ded- icated to pro- viding support to incoming refugees, or, as co-director of SFR Anya Holcomb refers to this burgeoning community within our community, “our new neighbors.” For resettlement non- governmental organizations (NGO) that receive funding from the government to pro- vide services for new arrivals, immigration changes have cut deeply into budgets and staffi ng. But for a volunteer-run organi- zation like Salem for Refugees, “The main practical implica- tion for us is the decrease in numbers,” Holcomb said. Since founding the orga- nization in response to a need for support for refugees be- yond that offered by govern- mental agencies and NGOs, Holcomb has seen the fl ow of refugees to the community change based on policies com- ing from the Trump Adminis- tration. Since President Donald Trump took offi ce, the yearly quotas for refugee resettlement have been slashed—according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in 2016, the last year of the Obama Administration, almost 79,000 refugees from around the world departed to be resettled in the U.S. In 2017, the fi rst year of the Trump Administration, the number of resettlement depar- tures fell to under 25,000. The lower quotas, paired with three iterations of a travel ban on certain countries, have also impacted Salem for Refu- gees’ and other resettlement or- ganizations’ ability to welcome “new neighbors.” The third and latest version of the travel ban—which the Supreme Court ruled in June to be constitutional and there- fore permanent policy for the meantime—restricts admission of refugees and immigrants from Iran, Libya, North Ko- rea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. Critics of the ban have derided it as a dressed-up ban on Muslim immi- gration and refu- gee resettlement. Those working in the fi eld of refugee resettle- ment have found that it targets the system as a whole, consid- ering some of the world’s larg- est producers of refugees are on the list. Holcomb, who says she’s just about lost track of the countries impacted by the shifting travel ban policy over the past year and a half, has seen the effect of the travel ban on their organi- zation. For a solid four months during one iteration of the ban, Salem for Refugees didn’t re- ceive any new families at all. Over the two and a half years of the Salem area’s re- settlement program, Salem for Refugees has welcomed refu- gees from nine countries: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Soma- lia, Pakistan, Ivory Coast, Dem- ocratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic. However, since the fi rst imple- mentation of the travel ban, the demographic of new arrivals has shifted. The organization now receives virtually no Mid- dle Eastern refugees, who are often Muslim. “Since the travel bans have taken effect all of our families are from Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Con- go,” Holcomb said. And the short breaks that have separated different iterations of the travel bans hasn’t changed that; even when the travel ban hasn’t been in effect, people from Middle Eastern countries still aren’t getting into the United States in large numbers. In addition to added restric- tions from the travel ban and quotas, additional “security measures” have been imple- mented since the onset of the Trump Administration for refugees awaiting resettlement in the U.S., making the refu- gee screening process—which already took upwards of two years prior to 2017—even lon- ger. Even with refugee-negative policy coming from the highest branches of government, Hol- comb remains positive. “We’ve just tried to really stay focused on loving and supporting the families who do come,” she said. At press time, there are 270 Salem for Refugees volunteers supporting 17 refugee families in the Salem-Keizer area. Salem for Refugees hosts open meet- ings for new and continuing volunteers on the fi rst Monday of every month from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Salem Alliance Church. For more information on getting involved, visit Sa- lemForRefugees.org. 2018 KIA FORTE LX 24 MONTH L E A S E 129 /MO $ 999 $ * Due at Signing* By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes The coordinators behind Keizer’s Rickman Commu- nity Garden are looking to make it even more self-suf- fi cient. Earlier this spring, Peggy Moore took to social media to ask for donations of fl ower starts and pots to add to the garden, then she decided to get bold. “I put a request up asking for a greenhouse and, within a few days, I had two offers,” Moore said. Now, Peggy and her husband, Jerry, are looking to take the greenhouse solar. Last week, the couple received $1,270 in match- ing grant funds from the Keizer Parks Advisory Board to make it happen, but Peggy said the group is still about $1,000 short of mak- ing it happen. The total cost to install six solar panels on an adja- cent shed to fuel the greenhouse is about $2,500. Jerry said a bid he received to purchase and install the equipment came within $150 of what it would cost to buy the materials alone at a local hardware store. “But a lot of contractors don’t want to do a project this small,” said Jerry. “Adding electricity to the greenhouse will power a fan to control the temperature in the summer and a heater in the winter.” Peggy already has a number of plans for how a solar-powered greenhouse would transform what the garden already does. “The plants we get from the Marion-Polk Food Share are leftovers from the big box stores and they aren’t always in the best shape or we don’t get the varieties we want,” she said. Being able to raise anything gardeners desire from seed will expand the possibilities exponentially. With enough lead time, she would even like to see the garden host a give- away of vegetable and fl ower starts to home-based gardeners each year. The garden currently has 17 plots and all are currently in use by members, but several of the plots serve large families. Peggy estimated that there are between 80 and 100 people who eat directly from the Rickman garden’s produce, but surplus goes to local organizations like Simonka Place, a women’s shelter, on River Road North. If you would like to contribute to the so- lar effort in some way, contact the Moores at moore5881@comcast.net. puzzle answers 2018 KIA OPTIMA LX 24 MONTH L E A S E $ 149 /MO ** $ 999 Due at Signing** ** ** 36 MO. LEASE 2018 KIA SPORTAGE AWD 199 /MO $ 999 $ Due at † Signing† $ $ UP TO 6,565 OFF MSRP, MSRP 26,810 † POWER KIA 3705 MARKET STREET SALEM, OR 97301 CHECK OUT OUR ENTIRE LINEUP AT THE KIA AMERICA’S BEST VALUE SUMMER EVENT. POWERKIA.COM 866 - 979 - 8765 *MSRP $18,920. Sale price $16,284 after $2,636 Power Discount. Cap Cost $10,585 after $4,700 KMF Lease Cash & $999 cash down or trade equity. Plus $650 acquisition fee. $0 security deposit. 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