A community celebration

By Alicia Underlee Nelson

Welcoming Week returns for its second year with 25 free community events in nine days. There’s a wide variety of programing scheduled, from community meals, sporting events and family-friendly entertainment to book talks, speakers and business and volunteer networking sessions. The celebration, held September 17-25, is part of National Welcoming Week, a nationwide movement designed to introduce new Americans to their U.S.-born neighbors.

“The overall goal for National Welcoming Week and our local version of it is social and economic integration of refugees, immigrants and newcomers,” said one of Welcoming Week: Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo’s organizers, Kevin Brooks. “We have happy hours, a community table, a movie night, a potluck, a barbeque, and a soccer tournament planned so newcomers and long term residents can get to know each other over drinks, food and entertainment—three of the best ways people socialize.”

Events are created and planned by a team of volunteers from local businesses and organizations. The group has logged over 200 volunteer hours in meetings alone. And this year, Welcoming Week coincides with -- and incorporates -- three established local community celebrations.

Local faith communities have marked an International Day of Peace Celebration for the last two years and a September 18 event at the Ed Clapp Senior Center encourages a broader audience to participate.

Concordia College’s annual Faith, Reason, and World Affairs Symposium on September 20 and 21 also ties in with Welcoming Week themes and programing. “The focus this year is on the Middle East, including events particularly relevant to the refugee crisis in Syria and local resettlement efforts,” says Brooks.

And when the streets of downtown Fargo and Moorhead open up to pedestrian traffic during Streets Alive! on September 25, a new cultural corner featuring the contributions of newcomers will greet revelers.

Last year Welcoming Week drew an estimated 1,000 people and organizers hope to build on that this year. “We hoping two particular groups show up at events,” says Brooks. “The newcomers themselves, who are still working at making the FM area their home, where they feel comfortable, and people who don’t interact with refugees or immigrants on a regular basis or in a personal way, but they have an interest in meeting new people and creating a more welcoming community.”

Minnesota State Community and Technical College student Ayat Hussein knows firsthand how important it is for new immigrants to connect with the Fargo-Moorhead community. She moved to Fargo from Iraq with her sister Noor and their family as a high school student. “I think that welcoming week is a great idea because newcomers know the place they will live in better,” she says. “It really helped me get better, and feel better, after I got to know where I am and what’s around me...and after living here, I forgot people’s color, skin, religion; and look at them as human no matter what the difference between us is.”

The reasons people attend Welcoming Week events are as diverse as the participants themselves. “They want to expand their friend circle; they want to experience new food at one of the participating restaurants, or support one of their favorite restaurants during this time,” says Brooks. “They want to feel more connected to their neighborhood and/or community; they want to be a positive force in the world, counteracting some of the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiments that exist the country and area; they want to be part of a national movement to create a more welcoming nation.”

Annalise Wainwright and Noor Hussein consider themselves to be part of the movement to create a more welcoming nation. And both see Welcoming Week as a good way to show support for a diverse and inclusive community. "It's great because our community has such opportunities to get together and celebrate the beautiful diversity we have -- to kill the racism and discrimination some people have,” says Wainwright.

Noor Hussein agrees. "With so much division in the world, such events, celebrating the beautiful diversity we have in our community, is both relevant and important.”

A complete list of Welcoming Week: Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo events can be found at http://www.newamericanconsortium.org/celebrations/welcoming-week/ and on the group’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/welcomingfmarea/.

[Editor’s note: Alicia Underlee Nelson is the power behind prairiestylefile.com]