2024 Events
2023 Achievements and Events
2022 Achievements and Events
Members of CWR's Steering Committee, Carolyn, Carla, Christine, and Rev. Rebecca discuss the upcoming Extending The Table community building event in the latest article written by the Caz Republican! Read the article here.
Our New American family from Afghanistan moved in July 2022.
This marks the successful completion of our 43 Lincklaen Project. This could not have
happened without the tremendous support CWR received from InterFaith Works, Cazenovia College, and most importantly, members of the greater Cazenovia community. We gratefully acknowledge and thank every individual who made a contribution to this effort, including those who designed the interior, monetary donors, donors of furniture, volunteer carpenters and painters, Cazenovia College Campus Services Team, students assisting with the children during walk throughs and move-in day, and all who made in-kind gifts. A special thank you to Nick Irvine and the Irvine Construction crew who worked so diligently to make the renovation a success.
Kathleen Bice & Carolyn Holmes, Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees Co-facilitators
This marks the successful completion of our 43 Lincklaen Project. This could not have
happened without the tremendous support CWR received from InterFaith Works, Cazenovia College, and most importantly, members of the greater Cazenovia community. We gratefully acknowledge and thank every individual who made a contribution to this effort, including those who designed the interior, monetary donors, donors of furniture, volunteer carpenters and painters, Cazenovia College Campus Services Team, students assisting with the children during walk throughs and move-in day, and all who made in-kind gifts. A special thank you to Nick Irvine and the Irvine Construction crew who worked so diligently to make the renovation a success.
Kathleen Bice & Carolyn Holmes, Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees Co-facilitators
Here is an inside look of the newly renovated 43 Lincklaen house:
Cazenovia College, CWR and InterFaith Works Welcome Resettlement Family
CAZENOVIA, N.Y. (July 1, 2022) — Cazenovia College together with Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees (CWR) and InterFaith Works will welcome a family from Afghanistan to Cazenovia. The College, CWR and InterFaith Works teamed up to renovate a College-owned building to return the two-story structure back into a single-family home. After nine months of reconstruction, the family designated for the home is scheduled to move in this summer.
The home located at 43 Lincklaen Street has undergone extensive renovations under the guidance of CWR’s Dave and Carolyn Holmes, and the Irving Construction Co. Since the home was once student residences and more recently, administrative offices and storage, a kitchen had to be designed and installed with new electrical and water access, bathrooms had to be gutted and modernized along with installation of new flooring and carpet throughout the entire home. Additionally, to bring the home up to code, fire and safety features were updated.
InterFaith Works is the fiscal sponsor and organizational partner for CWR, which raised funds for the cost of the renovations and provided volunteers to assist with renovating 43 Lincklaen. “This is a unique project,” noted Beth Broadway, president and CEO of InterFaith Works. “It doesn’t happen very often where you have a civic group and college committed at this level to welcome New Americans.”
Cazenovia College not only offered the property to be used as rental housing, but students in the College’s Residential Design class led by Interior Design Program Director and Associate Professor Grace Tallini contributed ideas, technical drawings and design and structural planning services to guide the renovation work. A recent Cazenovia College graduate, Amanda Pressly ’22, began working with CWR her sophomore year at Cazenovia. As the technology assistant, Pressly managed communications for CWR with the Cazenovia community sending newsletters and posting on the website and social media the status of the project as well as requests for items for the residence, including furniture and supplies.
CWR Steering Committee co-facilitators Kathy Bice and Carolyn Holmes also credit two Cazenovia High School students, Quinlan Emhoff and Erin Kuhn, with helping to bring awareness to the project and the contributions CWR is making in the community. Emhoff and Kuhn worked to bring the importance of the resettlement program into the high school. They participated in World Refugee Day, organized a drive for goods, and put kits together to welcome new refugee families. Emhoff also spoke at a CWR event to highlight its activities and recruit new members.
“It is really cool to see 43 Lincklaen now as a home for a family,” stated Quinlan. “It looks great.”
“We are looking forward to welcoming the children of the family into the community,” added Kuhn. “We can babysit, take them for ice cream and all sorts of things.”
As the family moves into their new home later this summer, CWR will continue to act as their liaison to the community. “CWR will be the family’s resource for any assistance they may need, including registering their children for school, finding doctors, dentists, or simply navigating local stores and events,” explained Bice.
“I am excited to welcome a family to 43 Lincklaen,” noted David Bergh, president of Cazenovia College, who has served on the CWR steering committee since it first began in 2018. “I applaud the contributions of our students that assisted in making this project come to fruition along with the collaboration between the College, CWR and InterFaith Works. It has been a great partnership that we look forward to continuing.”
CAZENOVIA, N.Y. (July 1, 2022) — Cazenovia College together with Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees (CWR) and InterFaith Works will welcome a family from Afghanistan to Cazenovia. The College, CWR and InterFaith Works teamed up to renovate a College-owned building to return the two-story structure back into a single-family home. After nine months of reconstruction, the family designated for the home is scheduled to move in this summer.
The home located at 43 Lincklaen Street has undergone extensive renovations under the guidance of CWR’s Dave and Carolyn Holmes, and the Irving Construction Co. Since the home was once student residences and more recently, administrative offices and storage, a kitchen had to be designed and installed with new electrical and water access, bathrooms had to be gutted and modernized along with installation of new flooring and carpet throughout the entire home. Additionally, to bring the home up to code, fire and safety features were updated.
InterFaith Works is the fiscal sponsor and organizational partner for CWR, which raised funds for the cost of the renovations and provided volunteers to assist with renovating 43 Lincklaen. “This is a unique project,” noted Beth Broadway, president and CEO of InterFaith Works. “It doesn’t happen very often where you have a civic group and college committed at this level to welcome New Americans.”
Cazenovia College not only offered the property to be used as rental housing, but students in the College’s Residential Design class led by Interior Design Program Director and Associate Professor Grace Tallini contributed ideas, technical drawings and design and structural planning services to guide the renovation work. A recent Cazenovia College graduate, Amanda Pressly ’22, began working with CWR her sophomore year at Cazenovia. As the technology assistant, Pressly managed communications for CWR with the Cazenovia community sending newsletters and posting on the website and social media the status of the project as well as requests for items for the residence, including furniture and supplies.
CWR Steering Committee co-facilitators Kathy Bice and Carolyn Holmes also credit two Cazenovia High School students, Quinlan Emhoff and Erin Kuhn, with helping to bring awareness to the project and the contributions CWR is making in the community. Emhoff and Kuhn worked to bring the importance of the resettlement program into the high school. They participated in World Refugee Day, organized a drive for goods, and put kits together to welcome new refugee families. Emhoff also spoke at a CWR event to highlight its activities and recruit new members.
“It is really cool to see 43 Lincklaen now as a home for a family,” stated Quinlan. “It looks great.”
“We are looking forward to welcoming the children of the family into the community,” added Kuhn. “We can babysit, take them for ice cream and all sorts of things.”
As the family moves into their new home later this summer, CWR will continue to act as their liaison to the community. “CWR will be the family’s resource for any assistance they may need, including registering their children for school, finding doctors, dentists, or simply navigating local stores and events,” explained Bice.
“I am excited to welcome a family to 43 Lincklaen,” noted David Bergh, president of Cazenovia College, who has served on the CWR steering committee since it first began in 2018. “I applaud the contributions of our students that assisted in making this project come to fruition along with the collaboration between the College, CWR and InterFaith Works. It has been a great partnership that we look forward to continuing.”
Celebration of World Refugee Day 2022 at Cazenovia Farmers Market.
The community showed great support to CWR's documentary event, Utica: The Last Refugee.
FILM "Utica: The Last Refuge" Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees
Nearly 30 million people worldwide are seeking refuge. Many of them were once prosperous and comfortable like you and me. Many others had little to leave behind but left what little they had. Nearly all were driven from their homes by war or famine or persecution or natural disasters. It's a massive, overwhelming problem and so difficult many of us just turn away in frustration.
But not everybody. Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees (CWR), an organization founded in 2016, has as its mission "to support Cazenovia as a welcoming community to refugees." CWR's first resettled family has been here for four years. A second family will be moving this June into a village home that was made available by Cazenovia College and that has been renovated by CWR.
To highlight the solutions possible to the refugee issue, CWR and the Cazenovia Forum will present a screening of the film "Utica: The Last Refuge" Friday, June 3 at 7 p.m. in the Catherine Cummings Theater, 16 Lincklaen Street. The event is free and open to the public.
Produced by veteran journalist and Utica native David Chanatry, the film tells the story of how refugees' presence in Utica has led to a cultural and economic revitalization of the community. It tells the stories of individual refugees and talks to experts who have compiled data that help explain a city that defies the conventional wisdom regarding refugees. Among the refugees' stories are those of a Bosnian hairdresser who started the first female-, refugee-owned business in the area; a Burmese grocer; a Bosnian with a thriving construction business; and a Burmese nurse practitioner.
At the same time, the film follows the efforts of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees (MVRCR) as the agency responds to constant changes in policy produced by executive orders and court rulings.
The film also talks to local politicians who extol the virtues of diversity in Utica and comment upon the hard work and dedication of the refugees. Local companies now work with MVRCR when they need employees and look optimistically on refugees as the stable workforce they previously lacked.
Following the film, representatives from the organizations involved with local refugee resettlement will be available for a question-and-answer session.
CWR's steering committee was formed to work in partnership with the Center for New Americans program of Interfaith Works of Syracuse. CWR has organized educational community events to create greater awareness of the realities of the global refugee crisis and the issues faced by refugees as they become integrated into our American communities. Subscribe to our newsletter below for more information.
The Cazenovia community and supporters of CWR came to our Open House, where people learned about CWR's mission, our endeavors, and about refugee resettlement policies from speaker, Beth Broadway of InterFaith Works .
2021 Achievements and Events
The FUNDRAISING PROJECT FOR 2021, “43 LINCKLAEN” was a success thanks to the Cazenovia community and supporters of CWR. We hope to welcome our second family late spring. To all who have donated and volunteered their time, CWR extends their appreciation. Please subscribe to our newsletter for updates on how to get involved with our project!
CWR celebrates World Refugee Day 2021 at the Cazenovia Farmers Market.
2020 Achievements and Events
- January: Evan Othman's Kurdish cooking classes.
- January and February: Secure housing with a community partner for a second resettled family.
- Because of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, starting in March 2020 we have sadly had to cancel, postpone, or only tentatively plan for community events for the rest of the year. We will move forward as soon as it is safe!
- April: Spring educational event, cancelled
- June: World Refugee Day Celebration, tentative date 6/20/20
- October: Extending the Table Community Dinner, TBD
- December: Project C.A.F.E. International Cookie Event, tentative date 12/4/20
2019 Achievements & Events
- January 10th: Meeting for new volunteers.
- April 23rd: Community education event with Salat Ali, a Somali refugee and Cazenovia College graduate.
- June 20th: Celebration of World Refugee Day at the Cazenovia Farmers Market.
CWR's Spring Education Event with Salat Ali.
|
World Refugee Day at the Cazenovia Farmers Market.
|
- October 26th: Extending the Table Community Fundraising Dinner, Ngoc Huyhn, Chef. Read more about our 2019 event.
- December 6th: Project C.A.F.E. International Cookie Event as part of the community Christmas Walk.
Extending the Table Community Dinner
International Cookie Event 2019