Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services
An affiliate of Church World Service and Episcopal Migration Ministries
and the
Department of Human Services of the State of Tennessee
BRIDGE is an ecumenical nonprofit organization that recruits and trains church sponsors to help refugees create a new life in East Tennessee. Bridge continues to case manage the families until they are eligible to apply for U. S. citizenship.
A Brief History
In the early 1980's, Barbara Mozingo moved to Oak Ridge. She had learned of
the problems
faced by refugees from the early example of her parents who, in the 1940's,
were assisting
newcomers from Norway immigrating into their Minnesota community. Later, in
Denver,
Colorado, Barbara herself became involved , through her church, with
devoting her time to
refugees. When she arrived in Oak Ridge, there were few refugee services
available, and
certainly no presence of Church World Service (CWS) or Episcopal
Migration
Ministries (EMM). She quickly recognized that her experience would be useful.
She contacted
local churches for assistance and through this effort met Sue Casaro-Hofer.
Together, Sue and
Barbara founded what is now Bridge. They chose the name Bridge, because
they wanted the
agency to be a bridge between the partners, the volunteers, Church World
Service, the
Episcopal Migration Ministries and anyone who wanted to join their efforts
to resettle refugees in
East Tennessee.
The first "office" was located in a room donated by Erin Presbyterian
Church, and the first cases
involved mostly reuniting Vietnamese and Polish families.
Since then, Bridge has expanded its name to Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship
Services.
Refugees have been relocated from thirteen countries to live safely and
prosper in a free society.
123 Dameron Avenue
Knoxville, TN 37917
(865) 540-1311
E-mail Us
Copyright Aug., 2002, all rights reserved
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