President Jones We do have a special proclamation for tonight that I will read, and this is regarding World Refugee Day.
WHEREAS, since 2000, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has recognized June 20th as World Refugee Day, which celebrates the strength and courage of people who've been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution; and WHEREAS, since 1980, the U.S. Refugee Act has represented the United States government's commitment to protecting refugees through resettlement and asylum programs; and WHEREAS, the City of Missoula recognizes the immense economic, cultural, and social contributions refugees and immigrants provide to our community; and WHEREAS, Soft Landing Missoula formed in 2015 to welcome refugee and immigrant families to Missoula with open arms and hearts; and WHEREAS, since 2016, the International Rescue Committee has welcomed more than 500 displaced people to Missoula, including people from Afghanistan, Burma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Syria; and WHEREAS, World Refugee Day 2022 is dedicated to recognizing the strength and resilience of our refugee neighbors, as well as providing opportunities to rebuild their lives in safety and dignity. Now, therefore I, John Engen, Mayor of the City of Missoula in the State of Montana hereby recognize the 20th of June 2022 as World Refugee Day.
President Jones And that is signed by the Mayor on June 20, 2022. I believe there are people in the audience that wanted to speak to this tonight. If so, please come up and state your name. Thanks, just come on up.
Mary Poole Thank you guys. I’m the Executive Director of Soft Landing Missoula and it's really awesome that the effort was put forth to re-energize and recommit our city to celebrating World Refugee Day. We had lots of proclamations and resolutions when we started in 2015 and we're always so grateful for your work and just incredibly grateful for this community and the welcome that it has given to refugees that have arrived and refugees yet to come here. So, thank you very much.
President Jones Thank you and thank you for all of your work. Anyone else in the audience that wants to come up? Here we go.
Sarah Howerton I’m the Development Coordinator at the International Rescue Committee in Missoula and this year IRC’s message about World Refugee Day is that refugees bring more than they carry; that's traditions, experiences, skills, the list could go on. And I think we've seen that manifest itself here in our city and so I just wanted to thank you all for your ongoing support for refugee resettlement in the city and hope we can continue in the years to come. So, thank you.
President Jones Thank you. Come on up, just state your name.
Paul Mwingwa Yeah. My name is Paul Mwingwa, M-W-I-N-G-W-A. I’m a refugee from the Democratic Public of Congo and I’m the Montana Delegate for Refugee Congress. It's a pleasure for me to stand in front of you and I just come here just to thank Montana State and the City of Missoula, and all the Missoulians for all things they did for us. We feel home when we are in Missoula. Thank you for today.
President Jones Thank you. I’m glad you feel at home here. Any other comments from Council that want? Or I’m sorry, comments from the audience that wanted to come up? Okay, I have a feeling we've got some Council comments. Ms. Becerra.
Alderperson Becerra Thank you. I just wanted to thank all the organizations and institutions and the volunteers that make it possible for our newest members of Missoula to feel at home and I also want to thank all the refugee community members for everything that you bring. You certainly enrich our culture; you give us some of your culture, and for that, I’m very grateful and I think you're making Missoula better. Thanks.
President Jones Thank you and we had Ms. Sherrill next.
Alderperson Sherrill Yeah thanks. I think Ms. Becerra said pretty much what I was going to say. I mean, I. there's no question in my mind that the refugee community in Missoula adds to the flavor and just the, the diversity and greatness of our city but I you know my daughter volunteers at Soft Landing and tutors the kids there and has been doing that for the last year on and off. I’m, I’m not sure, I think they sometimes make more TikTok’s than they do, do math, but she tries to get them to do math but that has been just in one kind of tiny little piece of Missoula, which is my daughter's experience has been just really rewarding and really eye-opening and has just added to that one teenage Missoulian's life. So thank you.
President Jones Thank you. Any other comments from Council? Ms. Vasecka.
Alderperson Vasecka Thanks. I just wanted to echo what my colleagues have said. Thank you to everyone who helps out with these wonderful refugees that come into our town and I’m so happy that you feel at home here and thank you for all the work that you do and thank you for everything that you do for our community.
President Jones Great. Any other comments from Council? And so, first of all thank you to everyone that came down tonight to comment and I would echo my colleagues’ comments also and it's a pleasure to read this proclamation tonight and it's a pleasure to have refugees being able to come to our community and all of the help that Soft Landing can give them because we had engaged citizens that stepped up to just make it happen. So, thanks for doing that. All right everyone, we're going to move on but lovely, lovely addition tonight.