World Refugee Day Celebrates Survival

Hundreds of people from the Greater New Haven area gathered at the Henry L. Luce Hall on June 22 to celebrate .

While World Refugee Day is celebrated all around the world, this event was sponsored by Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), the New Haven-based organization that, according to its website, “resettles approximately 200 refugees each year...[and] provides some services to asylees and other immigrants.”

Many of those refugees come from Iraq and Afghanistan, along with people from the Congo, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.

The June 22 event featured live world music, dancing, plentiful ethnic food, a silent auction with work from 12 local artists and a gallery of work done by and about local refugees. The night culminated in a performance of an original theater piece called “Stories From A New America,” which followed many local refugees' assimilation into American life.

IRIS Executive Director Chris George feels that, no matter what day it is, working with refugees is part of American history.

“Welcoming refugees to this country, helping them start a new life is really one of our finest American traditions," he said. "It’s important that people realize this program is still going on. The historic tradition of persecuted people coming to this country to start new lives didn’t end centuries ago. It’s going on now across the country. Everyday, new refugees are arriving.”

If you want to help with refugees in your community or wish to donate, visit IRIS' website.