During the coronavirus pandemic, the Refugee Support Center is looking to further support some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

The Refugee Support Center, or RSC, in Carrboro is a volunteer-based organization established to facilitate the transition of local refugees to a new life in our community.

The center serves over 900 refugees annually with the majority of refugees served are from Burma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Syria.

During times of national crisis, with unemployment on the rise and many people’s health being compromised, the RSC is working overtime to help the local refugee community meet their basic needs.

Founded in 2012, the RSC provides a multitude of resources to the refugee community – whether it be after-school tutoring, citizenship and English classes, health care access or interpretative services.

Flicka Bateman is the Director of the Refugee Support Center. She said, the RSC is doing their best to deliver their services remotely, but because of the language barrier, communicating with and assisting the refugee population has proven to be more difficult amid social-distancing.

“If this teaches us anything, it teaches us that technology is a tool, it’s not an answer,” Bateman said. “There’s nothing like face to face. I’m trying to do green card applications – for example – trying to have the interpreter explain over the phone that we need to have in reverse-chronological order, every residence you have lived at in the past five years. So a lot of really high-stakes things like citizenship applications, green card applications you really have to get it accurate and trying to do it on the phone really makes it difficult.”

According to the RSC, the world is experiencing the largest refugee crisis in global history. An unprecedented 65.6 million have been forcibly displaced from their homes because of violence, persecution, and war.

Bateman said, despite the pandemic’s stressful and anxiety-filled circumstances, the refugee community continuously tells her that they’ve been through much worse and that has led them to be very selfless.

“Their efforts to share what they can with their friends and to do what they can is just very poignant to me,” Bateman said. “Somebody had said to me ‘No, no give him my gift card if you don’t have enough – his family needs it more to go to the grocery store.’”

Outside of their normal services, during this difficult time Bateman said the RSC is doing everything they can to provide the necessities just to live – things like food, money for rent, and even diapers.

And thankfully, the community has stepped in to help them do just that – with donations coming from all corners of Orange County – whether it be frozen soup donated by the University Baptist Church, prepared meals from Vimala’s Café or gallons of milk from Maple View Farms.

“One refugee said to me ‘We can never say no to the milk – please as much milk you can get we would love,’” Bateman said. “The community in general’s outpouring of financial support – of contacting me to ask what they can give has just been amazing.”

Bateman said, with your assistance, the RSC can continue to provide grocery store gift cards, diapers and rental assistance where they can. Financial contributions are always appreciated.

“When we give these Food Lion gift cards to people, I try to explain that this is not from me, this is from just regular people wanting to help refugees and some of them are surprised when I tell them that,” Bateman said. “So I like to think that not only are we distributing aid, but we are really distributing community goodwill to a population that doesn’t always feel that that’s coming their way.”

To learn more about the Refugee Support Center, or to donate, visit their website.

(Photo courtesy of the Refugee Support Center)

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