By Kim Hilsenbeck.
When the call came in that a family of refugees needed help, Sandra and Lamont Ramage of the City of Hays, along with about 20 others from their church, jumped into action.
It’s the second time this year the Ramages have donated their time and money to provide a new life for immigrant refugees.
Back in June, the couple and their fellow parishioners at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Oak Hill banded together to help a family from Burma. Over the course of about six to eight weeks, the Ramages and others church members helped find furniture, bedding, appliances, food, clothing and more.
“A man from our church helps find the apartment,” Sandra Ramage said. “Then the rest of us volunteer to get things together to donate. We helped move in furniture and everything else, from toothpaste to pots for boiling water.”
Sandra said the church also takes up donations to pay for two months worth of rent.
This time, it was a mother and four children from Syria. Early reports were that the father was killed, but later information indicates the father was severely inured but not dead.
Either way, Sandra said, “This one is an emergency situation,” a few days before the family arrived.
At the time, the Ramages were working at the church, going through the storage building to find furniture, clothing and any household items they could find.
“We spent about three to four hours doing all that,” she said.
A moving truck operated by Two Men and a Truck provided services at no cost to get furniture and other items to the apartment.
“They did all the heavy work,” Sandra said. “It was three young men.”
She said the men picked up a sofa and recliner, a dining room set and a TV, along with other household items.
“They didn’t charge us one dime – they did it all for free,” Sandra said.
She said this time around, she and her fellow church volunteers had less time to get everything ready.
“We didn’t have as much heads up. We had about three or four weeks,” she said after the family got settled.
The family consists of a mother and a 15-year-old girl along with three boys ages 17, 11 and 6. When they arrived last week, church volunteers picked them up from the airport late at night and drove them to a furnished apartment in south Austin. Waiting for them was a hot meal, along with clothes, beds and more.
Church members also help the families take care of tasks such as getting a green card, enrolling children in school and finding employment for the parents.
“We have a wonderful, giving congregation,” Sandra said. “One person bought all bedding, one woman bought everything for bathroom.”
She said it’s not a very large congregation; the church averages about 75 members.
Deacon Sherry Williams, who was ordained a year ago at age 74, said her job is to get people from the parish involved in the community.
“Refugee ministry just really appealed to me,” Williams said.
She works with an organization in north Austin called Refugee Services of Texas.
“They might be Christian or Muslim or anything – we don’t make a big deal out of it,” Williams said. “We don’t try to convert them, we just help them.”
