Burdened by the plight of Afghan refugees fleeing from their country to the United States, East Shore Baptist Church in Pennsylvania followed the mantra of “See a need, fill a need.”
The first step was contacting the local International Service Center in Harrisburg, which has been receiving hundreds of refugee families and were tasked with relocating them and assimilating them into their new country.
The church learned that the youngest of these children needed language help and something to keep them busy and engaged while their parents participated in countless “adult” meetings (securing housing, work visas, etc.)
In response to the need, ESBC — along with help from a Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey evangelism grant — purchased 60 age-appropriate, electronic learning devices for language development and 60 children’s books (Veggie Tales).
It was ESBC’s hope that the learning devices, not games per se, but actual fun drills with letters and numbers would help the children learn English and that the books would plant seeds of belief in a God that loves everyone, regardless of what country they are from.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This article was originally published by the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey.
