Restoring Family Links

This past Friday I had the privilege of meeting with Restoring Family Links (RFL) mentor, Mike Farrar. Mike is one of 14 RFL mentors in the nation and works out of the Long Beach Chapter. He heard from National Headquarters about the grant that the Central Valley Region received for World Refugee Day on June 20^th.  Being one of the only RFL caseworkers in the region, I was thrilled to have him come by and give me guidance on how to maximize the use of the grant money and how to get the Restoring Family Links program operating in our region.

Restoring Family Links is a program of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is a program designed to reunite family members separated internationally due to armed conflict, migration or disaster. The ICRC and the American Red Cross work together to locate people and put them back into contact with their relatives. The attached map shows what areas throughout the nation have active RFL programs.

In the Central Valley we have a large immigrant and refugee population, which we have yet to serve in this capacity and, in order to serve in this capacity, we need trained volunteers. Mike Farrar has generously volunteered his time to conduct a RFL Caseworker training at our Fresno office. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in participating in this training please contact Cayce Baierski: Cayce.Baierski@Redcross.org or 559-455-1000.