From the moment refugees arrive in the United States, they’re working against a clock. Government aid only lasts so long. Within a year of settling in a new country with unfamiliar practices and a foreign language, refugees may be on their own, as they are no longer eligible for the same support and resources they may have received upon arrival.
When the U.S. military pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, thousands of Afghans came to the U.S. seeking asylum. Some of them were resettled in Fort Wayne and then were connected with local organizations like
International House (IHouse), a Christian nonprofit that serves refugees and other internationals in Fort Wayne by providing culturally relevant care to people from various countries, backgrounds and religions.
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Rachel Von Art LLCAt the International House office, a map shows where their clients are from.
“At IHouse, we embrace refugees and immigrants one life at a time, sharing the love and light of Jesus with people so we can create closer attachments to each other and to God,” says Ann Heign, IHouse’s executive director. “The people we serve aren’t considered clients; they’re our friends.”
Heather Morris, director of operations and outreach at IHouse, recounted some of her team’s early interactions with the growing immigrant population that indicated a larger need.
“I remember meeting a couple of women who were expecting babies, but they weren’t getting prenatal care beyond their initial appointment,” says Morris. “It turned out that they didn’t even know they were supposed to receive ongoing care. One woman was at risk of being dropped by her provider because she hadn’t shown up to her appointments—appointments she didn’t know were scheduled. Even if she had known, she didn’t have a vehicle to get there.”
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Rachel Von Art LLCHeather Morris, director of outreach and operations, and Ann Heign, executive director talk during an International House staff meeting.At the time, Heign and Morris were the only two full-time staff members at IHouse. They quickly realized they wanted to have the capacity to do more for people who didn’t have the resources or support required to be safe and healthy. A full-time medical and social services liaison could meet that need and invest time in training volunteers—but they didn’t know how to make that happen. An additional full-time position would require a lot of planning and financial resources, and they had little to spare. Then they connected with Meg Distler, executive director of the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation (SJCHF), and she quickly caught their vision and encouraged them to apply for a grant to fund a new position.
SJCHF makes serving refugees and immigrants one of its core impact areas because of its commitment to supporting vulnerable, often-overlooked populations.
“Our community impact director, Jackie Martinez, is originally from Venezuela, so she knows what the immigration experience is like,” says Distler. “She has shared that when refugees come to this country, they come with almost nothing. They’ve had to give up most of their possessions, so what they have is their dignity. The team at IHouse has this unique way of celebrating people, honoring their dignity and coming alongside them to help them adjust to an American lifestyle. They’re really culturally competent and incredibly welcoming.”
IHouse received a grant from SJCHF to sponsor a medical and social services liaison position. This position meets refugees and immigrants where they are, visits their homes, helps them schedule medical appointments and attends appointments with them to ask questions and ensure they’re receiving quality care.
“When people are no longer eligible for government services or aid, IHouse comes in and says, ‘We know you don’t have the resources you’re used to anymore—but we still care about you,’” says Distler.
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Rachel Von Art LLCHeather Morris, director of outreach and operations takes notes.In conversations with Heign and Morris, Distler says she remembers hearing about their struggle to keep up serving immigrants and training volunteers.
“I remember them telling me a story about an immigrant mom with limited English, and she had a baby who was failing to thrive,” she recalls. “She was relying on volunteers to drive her to the doctor, come into her appointments and help her fill out forms and make decisions. Healthcare is tough when you don’t understand the language; it’s even tougher when you don’t understand insurance. Those are the kinds of situations these people face.”
Through grant funding from SJCHF, IHouse was able to hire Valisha Reber as a part-time medical and social services liaison in April of 2023. Less than a year later, in January of 2024, Reber moved into a full-time position with additional support from the IU Health Foundation.
“My position at IHouse exists because of the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation, so I’m really grateful for their support and investment in our mission,” says Reber. “Before I was hired, I was serving in a volunteer capacity, helping out with appointments and building relationships with families. But the Foundation recognized the need in our community, and they saw Ann and Heather’s desire to have a person specifically dedicated to serving immigrant families in personal and tangible ways.”
Reber’s role is focused not just on helping transport immigrants and advocating for them in appointments, but also on educating people about typical healthcare processes and empowering them to do tasks on their own. For example, many people from other countries are used to going straight to pharmacies to get what they need—the concept of going to the doctor to get a prescription is new to them. Reber helps bridge such cultural gaps that often go overlooked.
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Rachel Von Art LLCHeather Morris, director of outreach and operations, left, and Valisha Reber, medical and social services liaison demonstrate what a client in-home meeting would look like at the International House office in Fort Wayne.“There’s not really an average day in my job because my schedule is always different from one day to the next,” says Reber. “Every day I have at least two appointments, maybe going to the doctor or the WIC office with someone. I might do a home visit to check in on a family and help them with mail or phone calls. There’s also a lot of behind-the-scenes work like getting referrals to specialists and filling out paperwork. There are a lot of tasks that are easy to do but would be very difficult and frustrating for someone who doesn’t speak English as a first language.”
Simple, everyday actions that change lives
If you ask anyone at IHouse what it takes to be able to serve people at the level they do, they’ll have a simple answer: compassion. As challenging or daunting as some of their work may seem, they want people to know that anyone who cares about others can do it.
“When our staff or volunteers take people to appointments or visit their homes, they’re doing it with the love and compassion that comes from the love of Christ,” says Heign. “We take the time to hold people’s hands, have tea with them—just be a human presence to them, not get the job done and leave.”
Building strong relationships also helps IHouse staff and volunteers better support the families they serve. Reber shares the story of a family with an infant who needed to have surgery. The infant’s older sibling had recently had a similar surgery, so the family felt well-prepared to handle the infant’s recovery, too.
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Rachel Von Art LLCInternational House (IHouse) is a Christian nonprofit that serves refugees and other internationals in Fort Wayne by providing culturally relevant care to people from various countries, backgrounds and religions.When the doctor advised the mother to administer Tylenol to help with pain, the mother said she had Tylenol from the previous surgery. Reber, knowing the older sibling had taken Tylenol with codeine, was quickly able to intervene and explain Tylenol for infants is different and the baby would not be able to take the same medicine or dose as his older sibling.
Another story Reber shares is about a family from Rwanda, who had been in Fort Wayne for about a year and a half before they got connected with IHouse.
“When we met the family, they’d only had initial resettlement services, so they had a lot of questions about social service benefits, getting their kids to the doctor and more,” says Reber. “Their entire family was tired and overwhelmed—I could tell they felt helpless.”
Through IHouse, the family received an in-home tutor to help with English language learning. An IHouse volunteer who had lived in Rwanda was able to communicate with them in their native language, which helped them feel more settled and encouraged. The mother invested wholeheartedly in learning English and taking ownership of the family’s needs. When IHouse connected the family to a clinic within walking distance of their house, volunteers attended initial appointments to help them get used to the experience—but the mother soon felt equipped to attend appointments on her own.
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Rachel Von Art LLCValisha Reber, medical and social services liaison, right talks with Ann Heign, executive director, during a staff meeting at the International House office.“At one point, we realized the mother had never picked her child up from school,” says Reber. “We went with her to the school, walked in with her and showed her how to sign her kid out. The next time it happened, I drove with her. But when we got there, I said, ‘Okay, you can do it.’ She didn’t want to, but I knew she was ready. So she went in by herself—and when she came back out, she was beaming because she knew she could do it. That’s what our heart is at IHouse. We want to encourage and empower our friends.”
Morris also worked with a different family from Afghanistan who had originally been resettled in Florida, but they knew some families in the Fort Wayne area so they decided to relocate. However, with secondary relocation, immigrants usually don’t receive any resettlement support, so the family was on their own.
“When we connected with the family, we noticed right away that they had a three-year-old son with developmental challenges,” says Morris. “He wasn’t really walking, and he had no language at all. We made a doctor's appointment, and the doctor was quick to connect us with Turnstone. They did an evaluation and started therapy with him. Soon, the family had two days of therapy for their son, plus an in-home tutor and a medical advocate for him. It was a total group effort. Today, the boy has learned some sign language so he can communicate with his family. He’s also received an evaluation from Fort Wayne Community Schools, which means he’ll get to enroll in a special needs preschool that meets him where he is. We’ve seen him grow by leaps and bounds in his life—all because he had volunteers who came alongside his family and advocated for him.”
A demand that never slows
Three years ago, Heign and Morris were the only two full-time employees of IHouse. Today, the organization has five full-time employees, along with a network of more than 150 volunteers serving the international population in Fort Wayne. Even with those numbers, IHouse struggles to keep up with demand.
Distler says she hopes the support of SJCHF will help shine a light on the work IHouse is doing to serve immigrants and refugees in Fort Wayne and encourage others to link arms with them in the work.
“We’re honored to be able to support IHouse and the people whose lives they’re changing,” says Distler. “When we see people like them, who are trusted and really gifted, on a faith-filled mission to serve others, we want to see the community invest in them.”
IHouse offers a wide variety of services to immigrants and refugees, and volunteers don’t even have to know what they want to do before they get involved.
“We always have volunteer opportunities available, and all volunteer applicants start with an initial training that includes a broad overview of our services and all the ways people can get involved,” says Heign. “People who are interested in the mission can come and get an idea of all the options available to them before they know how they want to serve. We offer English classes, in-home tutoring opportunities, citizenship classes, childcare services, transportation services and more—and all of those programs require volunteers to keep them running.”
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Rachel Von Art LLC From left: Heather Morris, director of outreach and operations, Ann Heign, executive director, and Valisha Reber, medical and social services liaison chat during a staff meeting.To the people at IHouse, one of the most unique and beautiful aspects of the Fort Wayne community is its growing diversity as refugees and immigrants choose to settle in the area.
“By last rough estimate, we have about 65,000 refugees and internationals in our city,” says Morris. “There’s a very good chance that you’re living among them and working with them—and you don’t have to come through an organization like ours to welcome them. Our city has so many opportunities to engage with others.”
For people who have left everything behind in favor of life in a new country, with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their dignity, it can make all the difference in the world to be welcomed well. That’s what IHouse is on a mission to do
To learn more about International House,
visit their website.
This story was made possible by the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation.