If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed with Feedburner. Thanks for visiting!

Many days I wonder hos people have time to watch TV, or any of the other things, “normal” people do, and then I realize all of the activities Laura and I are involved with. Through her social work, Laura and I have been very involved in working with the refugee community here in Salt Lake. We have been participating in a special working group started by the governor, and mayor of Salt Lake. With almost a year of working in a larger group, Laura has most recently been meeting with a smaller group to finalize our proposal to the governor for the much needed changes to adress the needs of the refugee community here in Salt Lake. Salt Lake is one of a handful of cities across the US that accept refugees as part of the federal resettlement program.

One of the largest problems here has been housing. A recent development at Hartland Apartments in Salt Lake has left many refugee families homeless. After a change of ownership and management, rents for apartments increased dramatically, and the terms of the leases up for renewal made it impossible for refugee families to continue on the assisted living programs in place to help them resettle in a new country. While the various organizations strambled to find new housing for the refugees, citizens, like Laura and myslef also became involved to raise awareness of the situation and raise funds help move the families, and provide monetary assistance for deposits for new apartments.

Hartland Apartments, was not simply a place to live for the refugees resettled here, it was a community with a support network in place. Unfortunately, that community is now crumbling and the refugees are now once again being displaced. Thise families that are unable to find apartments, are ending up in homeless shelters while we continue to search for housing alternatives.

Besides refugees, Laura and I are also working directly with a family from Afganistan that is seeking asylum. The family has now been here 8 months, and have about another 2 months before their case is decided. While seeking asylum, they are unable to work, and therefore have depended on the charity of our network to keep fed, clothed and housed. They too were at Hartland apartments, and we recently found them a new apartment in Murray. The new apartment is much nicer, and has more room for the family of 9, however this has increased their rent by $400 a month.

We are currently looking at any ways to raise more money to help the families here in Salt Lake and specifically our freinds from Afganistan. If there is anything you can do to help, please send an email to help@firehorseinvestments.com.

I will also be putting togethor a special offer for some marketing training I am working on to help raise money for this cause, be sure to look for that information when it becomes available here on my blog.