03/20/2026
Into Chicago pt. 1: In Service to Refugees
According to the law, a refugee is someone who has been invited to come and settle in our country.
In many instances, a refugee is fleeing their home when situations become dangerous due to a relationship with the U.S. during war or military operations. In others, they are unsafe due to ethnic cleansing in their region.
In the last 17 years, there have been 36.9 million refugees welcomed into countries around the world, and though the U.S. has currently frozen all invitations to provide any refuge, our Mission on 66 team, through Exodus World Service , had the opportunity to serve four beautiful families in the multiethnic corridor along Devon Avenue in the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago.
The project began somewhere a little more familiar as we had our best version of “supermarket sweep” and split up into our teams to fulfill the shopping lists we were provided so we could bless the families we’d meet with essential needs like cleaning products, bath supplies, and more.
The first journey for our refugee neighbors is getting here. Then there’s a whole new journey of learning how to survive and hope to thrive in, what is to them, a foreign country. Before we headed out in service, the wonderful people at Exodus took us through a heart wrenching simulation that had many people in tears as it sank in that very real people have been through very real circumstances.
Our team expressed feelings of fear, hopelessness, and devastation when confronted with the choices and misfortunes experienced while fleeing. Finding yourself in a new land with no job, no possessions, no shelter, and no shared language for communication creates a daunting amount of barriers.
A group of young adults, One of Senior High, and two Middle School groups went for walks into the surrounding neighborhood accompanied by Exodus staff and with hampers of provisions.
They made note of how different the main streets were from those at home. Full of different cultural markets, shops, and restaurants owned and operated by people from all over the world, the sights and smells were exciting. The walkable community buzzing with the life of people of many nationalities in their native dress were all around us.
Exodus staffer prepped us outside of each home, giving us tips and advice on showing respect amidst cultural traditions, then taking our shoes off, we entered their refuge.
The young adults were greeted with incredible hospitality. Though the family was honoring their final day of Ramadan, fasting from sunrise to sunset, they rolled out a beautiful array of snacks and delicacies from their culture, and were so honored to share with our group. Upon their return, tears filled the eyes of our teammates as they shared their experiencing of feeling like they were ultimately the ones honored by such hospitality.
Our high school team sat in the floor of the home they were guests and used the universal language of play to show commonality, playing with trucks, blocks, and a soccer ball with two young boys in the family while their third grade sister helped translate between our team and her mom. They talked about pets and dreams of what they all might be when they grow up. The daughter learned the word “Veterinarian” from our youth as she described wanting to be a doctor for animals.
Mom was so pleased to see her children being loved and interacted with that she got her mother and brother on FaceTime to meet and interact with us, as they remain in a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
The middle schoolers were praised for their maturity and respect as they met and asked questions of a single mother they were bringing supplies to. She was delighted and full of energy to have such an engaging interaction with them even though most of their communication was through gestures and small recognizable words. The team got the chance to stop at a market on the way back and brought back food native to the neighborhood for the whole group to share.
Our time with Exodus House was an experience that no one will forget. Seeing humanity in these refugees and better understanding their journeys, even beyond language and cultural barriers, was humbling, inspiring, and has motivated them to ask for opportunities to continue this work with their neighbors when we get back home.
What a privilege and blessing.
