The organization that has now raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for refugees in the St. Louis area, and helped connect them with the community along the way, started with a news story.
Jessica Bueler, a social media marketing expert, was horrified in 2016 by detailing how teenage Syrian refugees living in north St. Louis had recently been attacked by a group of locals. She realized the Syrians, who鈥檇 recently fled the war there, were living just about a mile from the Loop, where she worked.
鈥淚 was reading this paper and thinking about what other people are reading this right now and going, 鈥極h my God, this is terrible that this group of teenage boys were attacked and sent to the hospital.鈥� And then I pictured everybody else around St. Louis just turning the page to the next page,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd for some reason, that image stuck with me all night.鈥�
Determined not to simply turn the page, Bueler called her friend Aboud Alhamid, who owns Ranoush restaurant in the Loop. What did local Syrian refugees need? He said they had many needs, but chief among them was toiletries.
Putting her marketing background to use, Bueler posted on NextDoor, asking for donations. 鈥淲e were so overwhelmed with donations that it ended up starting, accidentally, an organization,鈥� she recalled on Wednesday鈥檚 St. Louis on the Air.
That organization is , which has made a big impact in St. Louis by focusing on helping refugees who have been resettled to the area. The International Institute of St. Louis sponsors the vast majority of refugees in the area, each coming with a federal stipend to cover their essential needs for their first 90 days. But it can be difficult, if not impossible, for newcomers to fully find their footing within that time period.
And that鈥檚 where Welcome Neighbor STL comes in. It鈥檚 gained attention for its 鈥渟upper club鈥� dinners, which pay refugees to cook the food of their native countries and share it with St. Louisans who pay $25 a plate to attend. To date, those 142 events have raised $274,609, Bueler said, 90% of which goes to refugees.
Before COVID, those meals were also a great source of education, one in which refugees told their stories to an appreciative audience. Now they operate as drive-thrus, but Bueler said that has its benefits: They can serve vastly more people and raise far more money.
But the organization does much more than that. By pairing newcomers with hand-selected local volunteers, they鈥檙e able to do things such as help with English tutoring and figuring out the endlessly complex American health insurance system.
鈥淎 lot of times we even have four or five American families that will be partnered with each refugee family,鈥� Bueler said. 鈥淎nd so that creates this amazing support system so that any time that there's questions about insurance or anything about taxes, or just everyday questions that we have that we may take for granted, you have somebody that you can ask.鈥�
For Mawda Altayan, the support has been invaluable. Altayan came to St. Louis from Syria in June 2016 and initially felt overwhelmed. Friends told her to reach out to Bueler.
鈥淚 wasn't speaking English words, actually,鈥� Altayan explained. 鈥淚 tried to use Google Translate to translate some messages for her, and they sent her some messages to ask her to help me to learn English, to learn driving. So she came to my home; she invited friends to my home; she became my close friend.鈥�
The supper clubs actually stemmed from Altayan cooking a dinner at Bueler鈥檚 home. One of the guests that night offered to host the next one 鈥� and from there, an event series for born.
For Altayan, they were a crucial source of income, and connections. A mother of three (she鈥檚 now pregnant with the fourth), she often felt isolated before the Welcome Neighbor events. 鈥淚t was difficult for me to learn the language because I鈥檓 taking care of my kids,鈥� she explained.
Now, Altayan and her husband have opened their own catering business, .
She added, 鈥淭hrough this event, I met American people. I have friends, new friends. I learned the language through it this way. And yeah, it was so fun.鈥�
With more than 1,000 Afghan refugees expected to be resettled in St. Louis in the next year, Welcome Neighbor STL is ready, and so is Bueler. She recently worked to raise money to help the sister of an Afghan refugee previously placed here in 2014. Andisha Shah has since moved to California, but when her sister needed help getting out of Kabul, Bueler sprang into action, raising more than $9,000. With those funds, Shah鈥檚 sister has now made it to Pakistan and hopes to reunite with her family in the U.S.
Bueler said she initially set out to raise $7,000, but the St. Louis community quickly exceeded her goals.
鈥淚'm just so happy to hear that she has made it to Pakistan,鈥� she explained during the show, wiping tears from her eyes. 鈥淚'm actually just hearing that for the first time right now.鈥�
The situation confronting Afghan refugees remains incredibly difficult. Said Shah: 鈥淪ome people are saying, 鈥楧on't worry, everything will be fine.鈥� I just want them to know that, how can you even say, 鈥楧on't worry, it will be fine,鈥� while every day someone is dying? There is war. Every day, lives are in danger.鈥�
Bueler hopes to at least ease the living situations for any Afghans who make it to St. Louis. She鈥檚 currently focused on working with the International Institute to find good short-term housing for families relocated here. And after that, Welcome Neighbor STL stands ready to meet them where they鈥檙e at 鈥� and help them connect with the community, too.
鈥淲hat brings people together more than food?鈥� Bueler asked. 鈥淲hen you break bread together, you bring people together. And it's such a great catalyst of that, when you bring people around a table that don't even know each other, and you try different food from a different country and start to hear somebody's story, you start to connect with that.
鈥淎nd you start to peel back the layers of the onion of what different people go through, and you start to find commonalities. And it all just starts by sharing a plate of food together.鈥�
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Where: STL Foodworks, 408 N. Sarah St.
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When: 4:30 p.m.鈥�6 p.m. Sept. 25
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , and . The audio engineer is .
