RRISA in the News
January 6, 2012
The Champion Newspaper wrote an article about local refugee resettlement efforts. Our executive director, Paedia Mixon, was interviewed and is mentioned in the article speaking about why new arrivals are sent to a given area. To read the article, click here.
Atlanta's Haitian Quake Medical Evacuees Re-visited
Susan Mittleman, WABE
ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - Last February, after Haiti's devastating January 12th earthquake, 48 critically injured Haitians and 21 family members were airlifted to Atlanta and sent to area hospitals for treatment. Susan Mittleman caught up with two of the medical evacuees she reported on last year to see how they're doing now.
The Haitians have been eagerly attending English classes at the Refugee Resettlement Immigration Services of Atlanta or RRISA, for the past year. RRISA has been overseeing the Haitian Relief program since the first medical evacuees arrived after last January's earthquake.
December 21, 2010
Share a New Start with a Refugee Family this Advent
Sybil Davidson, North Georgia Advocate
Sponsoring a family through faith-based or civic organizations is one way people are able to help a refugee family make a new start. This article highlights one church’s awesome experience with family sponsorship. If you have questions about sponsoring a family, contact Tom Van Laningham, Sponsorship Developer, at tom@rrisa.org.
Excerpt: "It is a particularly appropriate time of year to remember the plight of refugees, says Tom Van Laningham. “Advent, according to the gospel of Matthew, is the season for immigrants and refugees,” said Laningham, Sponsorship Developer of RRISA (Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta). “These people who come from afar bring us gifts.”
December 2, 2010
Refugees Need Your Help: Atlanta students collect coats to prepare refugees for winter
Mari Chiles, Scholastic Kids Press Corps
Excerpt: "You know that awesome feeling that springs up on the inside whenever you do something nice for someone? A class of 5th and 6th graders at the Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia, recently experienced that when they made a difference for refugees in their community."
August 18, 2010
From Haiti to America -- and back? Quake survivor caught in between
Moni Basu, CNN
Excerpt: "The earthquake killed more than 200,000 people. So many mothers were grieving. It displaced 1.5 million people. So many mothers were eking out an existence in tents, barely managing to feed their children.
Jean had survived. Shnaika had survived. It was God's way of telling her that life was starting again. She couldn't let the opportunity slip."
May 31, 2010
Haiti Refugee Learning To Walk Again: Video
Diana Davis, WSB TV
Take a look at the progress the Haitian medical evacuees are making as they recover from their injuries sustained in the January earthquake. See how RRISA's program helps them get to the next step of independence.
May 24, 2010
Haitian Medical Evacuee Follow-up
Susan Mittleman, WABE
Within weeks of January's devastating earthquake in Haiti, a number of critically injured victims were airlifted to Atlanta-area hospitals for medical treatment. The flights wound down by the end of February. But the road to recovery for many Haitians here is just beginning. Susan Mittleman caught up with two survivors who are slowly taking the next step.
March 26, 2010
Congregation Bet Haverim's Passover event benefits Haitian victims
Jason Butt, Atlanta Jewish Times
For the second consecutive year, Congregation Bet Haverim will hold a "Pass it Forward" Seder to raise money for those in need. This year, the synagogue aims to help victims of the 7.0 earthquake that ravaged Haiti in January. Rabbi Joshua Lesser said the Seder will be free for anyone who wishes to attend, but that donations will be taken for afflicted Haitians.
Knowing both the tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti and Haiti's struggle and triumph of overthrowing slavery and standing up for liberation in the face of oppression, we thought passing it forward, to help both people in Haiti recovering from the earthquake and those who have moved here since the earthquake, would be a wonderful way to connect our commitment to liberation that Passover speaks of," Rabbi Lesser said. [more]
March 12, 2010
Westminster students help refugees start new lives
Laura Braddick, Neighborhood Newspapers
Each year, 70,000 refugees come to the U.S. to escape physical, political and social turmoil and start a new life. Many of those families bring little more than a suitcase of belongings. After a semester of studying refugee communities in the country and state, high school students from the Westminster Schools in Buckhead cleaned, refurbished and completely furnished 12 apartment homes in Clarkston for incoming families last month. [more]
March 11, 2010
RRISA Threads of Promise Program
Susan Mittleman, WABE
The women of Avondale Estates were all abuzz at Connie Bryan's recent house-party- trunk sale. "We're selling scarves, pillows, table runners and pocket books." Bryan was actually selling more than hand-woven goods but Threads of Promise. Threads of Promise is a new weaving cooperative of Karin refugee women from Burma, and RRISA- The Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta.
March 2, 2010
Some Haiti Survivors on Circuitous Route to Recovery
Susan Mittleman, AOL News
Nearly every other day, a C-130 military transport plane from Port-au-Prince arrives at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. For some of Haiti's earthquake survivors, this is the latest detour on a long and winding road to recovery. [more]
February 25, 2010
Critically Injured Haitian Earthquake Victims Arrive in Atlanta
Susan Mittleman, WABE
Excerpt: "At Dobbins Air Force base in Marietta, six ambulances wait on the tarmac. Inside an enormous hangar, 21 volunteer soldiers from Georgia's State Defense Force get last minute instructions.
They, along with doctors, nurses, translators, customs officials and a myriad of military personnel, are preparing for the arrival of the C-130 from Haiti."