Check out one of the following exciting programs!
- Join us for our weekly Table Talk program, featuring a potluck dinner & informal conversation;
- Connect with a refugee through our Mentorship program;
- Buy a book! Our exciting Storybook Project honors refugees by collecting their life stories and publishing them as bilingual storybooks;
- Serve as a teacher during one of our daily English classes;
- Visit us at the PLACE, our new refugee-focused multicultural community center; or
- Book our Translation Services to meet an upcoming translation need.
Learn more about how these programs get us to our vision of the flourishing of refugee communities.
Refugee Language Project exists so that individuals from refugee communities in the Amarillo area are increasingly flourishing as they confidently interact with the world around them, enabling them to honor God with their lives. RLP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Amarillo, Texas. Launched in 2017, we became a standalone organization in 2020. We are funded primarily by monthly recurring donations, alongside generous one-time gifts and strategic grants. Learn more about our team here.
Understand the broader context from our 2021 Amarillo Refugee State of the Union.
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and you can find some videos on our YouTube channel.
WOW!! Panhandle, you sure know how to show some love! We are in awe of these good gifts and the support this community continues to crank out for RLP. Thank you to everyone who gave, shared, and cheered us on!! We will announce our amplification funds total as soon as we know those. #thepanhandlegives
Today is the final day of The Panhandle Gives. We are BLOWN away by the support and generosity in this community, and are so thankful for all who decided to donate. If you haven't given yet, there's still time! It's quick and easy online, and 100% of your donation goes to the non-profit you choose. Help us to finish strong! Click the link in our bio to give.
If you are a check user, have no fear! You can donate by check at any of these sponsoring banks - Happy State Bank, First Bank Southwest, or Amarillo National Bank. If you're too busy to drop by the bank, send me a message and I'll collect and deposit them for you! Make your checks out to The Panhandle Gives and be sure to put Refugee Language Project in the memo line. Today and tomorrow are the final days, so be sure to #givewhereyoulive !
We are at 40%!! Help us reach our goal by giving during the final two days of The Panhandle Gives. Click the link in our bio to donate online now!
Consider buying local and small this year and check out our first two storybooks as gift ideas for the book lover in your life. They are in stock and available for sale on our website. Bulk discounts are available. Happy shopping!
Black Friday is important to local businesses! Show them your support today, and if you haven't yet, give to RLP and your other favorite non-profits during the final days of The Panhandle Gives! Link in profile.
We are thankful for the amazing men and women we get to interact with every week - from students in our classes, to refugees and former refugees, volunteers and financial supporters and everyone in between. Enjoy your day with family and friends!
We celebrated Thanksgiving a bit early with our ESL class on Tuesday. Volunteers and teachers brought typical American Thanksgiving food for our friends to try!
This class is a major point of connection for refugees in our community. Many people have walked in looking for ESL help and then gone on to get matched with someone in our mentorship program.
While English is important, it's just one tool in the belt for building a successful life in Amarillo. Language skills, cultural insiders, heritage preservation, trauma healing - there are many pieces to the puzzle. Help us do our part at RLP by considering an end of year gift during The Panhandle Gives Campaign. It's easy and safe to give online or at a participating bank and your money goes farther now than at any other time of year! Click the link in our bio to give.
What do you see in this picture? Maybe you can tell that this is a woman sitting in a doctor’s office, but you can’t see her anxious face as she contemplates being pregnant with her second child in a country she's only lived in for a year, with no family around to help. You also don’t see the phone the doctor is holding for the language line to translate between Pashto and English in real time about pap smears and c-sections. You don’t see the woman’s friend watching her child while she’s at the appointment, or the other friend that drove her there. You don’t see that when she found out her OB was going to be a man, something unacceptable in her home culture, yet another friend had been forced to reschedule the appointment. Actually, there are a lot of people who aren’t in this picture. There’s the mentor who visits her regularly, taking her to get groceries, baby supplies, and fabric so she can make her own clothes. And what about the teacher who visits her home weekly to work with her 1-year-old? And what about the health department employee who sits and helps her? And the countless others who help her fill out forms and submit paperwork. You can’t see the two hours someone spent getting her medications straightened out, or the ESL teachers who plan how to make class time effective, or the childcare worker who loves on her baby during class, or the friends who warmly welcome her to the PLACE each week.
You also can’t see all that this woman has to offer. She is a phenomenal cook and seamstress. She left a large and beautiful home in Afghanistan where she always had a room ready for unexpected guests to eat and rest their heads each night. She wants to improve her English, be a good mother, and establish her family in America. (continued in comments)
Today is the day!! Kick our campaign off with a bang and help us meet our goal of $40,000 for 2022! Give at the link in our bio, or search for Refugee Language Project at thepanhandlegives.org
This is RLP. We are about the flourishing of people. What would a flourishing refugee community look like to you? Leave a comment with your ideas and dream big with us!
Our goal this year is $40,000 for The Panhandle Gives. This community continues to blow us out of the water with their support, encouragement and advocacy. We can't wait to see how you wow us again this year. Thank you to everyone who has rallied around us. You can start giving in 4 days, so stay tuned! For more details on what we are raising funds for this year, click the link in our profile.
Tuesday means Table Talk! We will be separating into men's and women's rooms tonight to change things up. Lasagna and pizza are on the menu, so bring a side or dessert to share and we will see you at The PLACE at 6!
Part 3 of 3 :: Why Give? :: Last week we talked about what TPG is and how to give to your favorite non-profits. This week, in our last lead up to the fundraiser, let’s talk about WHY you should give to RLP during those 9 days. This year we are raising funds to expand our Heritage Language Storybook Project, which produces illustrated bilingual storybooks that tell the life stories of Amarillo's refugees. We launched the Storybook Project in 2022, and already successfully published two stories: Caves and Cages: Memories of Myanmar and At Home on the Kyer Ya Klo. These books tell the life stories of two Karen women who lived in the midst of a violent conflict between the Burmese and Karen armies in Myanmar. Next year we will publish a third Karen story, as well as books in Kinyamulenge and Persian. As we record, translate, edit and illustrate these stories from Amarillo's refugees, we seek to honor their history, culture and experiences for the purposes of connecting generations, promoting literacy, processing trauma, and preserving history. You can help us produce these storybooks through your gifts during The Panhandle Gives 2022. Pitch in to help us cover the costs of hiring illustrators from the storytellers' cultures, paying for translation services and publishing high quality products.
Part 2 of 3 :: How to Give :: Here's the thing, you might be a regular donor to your favorite area non-profit (bless you if so!), but during the campaign, you MUST give through @thepanhandlegives, or your gift does not get amplified. Don't worry, during the campaign we'll have links and pop-ups to point the way! Go to thepanhandlegives.org, find your intended non-profit, and make a quick and secure gift online. You can also drop off a check at a participating bank, as long as the memo line has the name of the organization you want to receive your funds. Thanks to @happystatebanktx , @firstbanksouthwest and @amarillonationalbank for sponsoring! Now that you know some of the facts, stay tuned for part 3 on Monday - Why give? We'll talk about what we're raising funds for this year as well as what TPG has enabled in past years. Have a great Friday.
Part 1 of 3 :: Did you know that last year 32% of our total donations came in during the nine days of @thepanhandlegives campaign?! Click through the slides to see why it makes a difference to hold on to your regular or end of year donations during November 21-29! Tomorrow we'll talk about how you can give to make sure your donation makes the biggest impact! Click the link in our bio to read the newsletter and find an "add to calendar" button to set a reminder. 🛎
Giving Season - This will be our third year to participate in The Panhandle Gives, so mark your calendar and save your donations for the week of November 21-29! You can also read about our team's recent trip to Oregon and purchase the second storybook which just arrived from the printer! All that is inside this month's newsletter, so click, read and share! Link in bio.
It's that time of year again...time for The Panhandle Gives campaign! This will be RLP's third year to participate. Please mark your calendars for November 22-29, 2022, and make a plan now to donate to RLP during those dates. Whether you are planning your end of year giving, are a regular donor to RLP, or are looking to show some extra love to area non-profits this year, stay tuned to learn why it makes a difference to donate during The Panhandle Gives campaign. Follow along for a series of posts explaining all you need to know!
Join us for the second installation of music night at Table Talk! 🎶 6-8 PM at @theplaceamarillo Potluck meal followed by open mic time for those wanting to perform.
Join us for Table Talk tonight @theplaceamarillo from 6-8. Bring food to share, and encourage your refugee and immigrants friends to come too! Legal Aid will be there to share about tenant rights. See you there...
