Our Story

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 My name is Julia Jakubek. My colleague Genevieve Mete and I are asking for your financial (and moral) support for the Heartland Alliance Refugee & Immigrant Community Services program (also known as RICS).

The world is currently experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis since WWII. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 65.6 million individuals have been forcibly displaced worldwide because of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. These individuals live without access to the resources that you and I take for granted. They have fled their homes, their jobs, their livelihoods and happiness to escape war and imminent death. Just like you and me, these people want to have hope, they want to love their families and raise happy babies. They want to be able to live life in peace, not worried about whether the next air strike will hit their home. As many of you know, my heart has been deeply torn and unsettled about this situation. My heart’s restlessness has pulled me fiercely to do something about this horrible situation, to do my part to help ease this suffering.

Each year, the Heartland Alliance Chicago resettles on average between 300 and 400 refugees. The Heartland Alliance partners with refugees to provide employment assistance, English classes, K-12 case management for children, mental health services, and individual case management for up to 2 years to make sure they have a social security number, are signed up for food and cash assistance, understand how to pay bills, make doctor appointments and much more! Even with this help though, the first months can be overwhelming with learning English, finding a job, getting yourself and your kids to the doctor and dentist finally (after how many years?), etc.

For the past two years, we've held the Charity on Tap event, a fundraiser to help raise much-needed funds for the Heartland Alliance. Heartland is in constant need of volunteers and financial support to help arriving refugees and support them as they rebuild their lives in America. This year, we would like to raise $5,000 through ticket sales for our June 6th event, raffle sales at the event, and direct donations.

I asked Heartland what would be the best way to help in fundraising, and they said in two areas: rental support and CTA passes. I am asking for your help in reaching a fundraising goal of $5,000. This translates to one month of rental assistance to approximately 4 families and CTA monthly passes to 12 people.

Rental Support

All refugees are people who have fled their homes due to war, persecution, or another dire physical threat. They have often left everything behind. Refugees receive a one-time resettlement grant totaling $925 which is to be used for expenses for the first three months of life in Chicago. As anyone in Chicago knows, $925 will not go very far to cover rent, food, furniture, transportation, clothing, etc, especially if you have kids. For example, a single person will need approx. $1,600 to cover first month’s rent + security deposit. The Heartland Alliance provides rental assistance for the first 3 months with the expectation that the refugee will be self-sufficient by the 4th month (with some exceptions for single mothers, people with disabilities, etc).

CTA Passes

Funding for CTA passes is very limited. Your help in providing CTA passes would provide such freedom of movement for these individuals, allowing them to fully participate as members of the community. As reference, the CTA fees are:

• One-ride $2.25
• Daily pass $10
• 7-day pass $28
• Monthly pass $100

Thank you for taking the time to read this request to rally with me in this, so that together we can say “Welcome! You are welcome here!” to recent refugees in Chicago. I am so passionate about showing our love and support to our refugee brothers and sisters. And with your support, we can help ease their burden and show them that they are welcome here. Thank you.