New American Ministry
New American/Immigrant Ministry
While Wolfeboro has few recent immigrants to the US, All Saints has an ongoing ministry welcoming and supporting New Americans and other immigrant to New Hampshire (primarily around Manchester). We have been fortunate to have Amadou Hamady, a leader helping New Americans and other refugees in the Manchester area. Previously, he was the Manchester program manager of the International Institute of New England settling immigrants sent by the US State Department to NH. Currently, he is the lead social worker in the Manchester School District assisting the over 2,200 immigrant students in the school district and their families.
Amadou Hamady at All Saints
Amado
Amadou and New Neighbor Connections (NNC-the non-profit organization that he helped establish and that has been supported by All Saints parish) has broad knowledge of the immigrant community in the Manchester area. He has been identifying recent immigrants and their needs and All Saints parish, through the annual church fair, and through the Lord & Tailor thrift shop, and individual members have been donating a wide range of items to address them.
The types of items most often needed by new arrivals include:
Refugee Box at the end of the Parish Hall
Clothing
Small appliances
Tableware
Computers (especially laptops)
School Backpacks
Blankets
Sewing supplies
Tools
Female Hygiene supplies
Diapers
Relatively recent vintage computer (including flat screen monitors) with the operating system installed but the computer otherwise cleared of all personal data are especially needed. Laptops are particularly useful for students.
Donated items can be placed throughout the year in the Refugee Box at the end of the Parish Hall. If you have any questions, you can contact Warren Muir at wrmuir@gmail.com.
Most immigrants in Manchester live in relatively cramped housing. So, they have limited space for big appliances (e.g., full-sized washing machines) or large furniture (e.g., couches). If you have a larger item that you think might be of value to an immigrant family, please take a picture and email it to Amadou at amtijane@yahoo.com. He will let you know if it can fulfill a need.
Clothing should be donated through the Lord & Tailor thrift shop, which will identify items for “New Americans”.
A wide variety of other needs are addressed through items donated for sale at the annual church fair. Amadou arranges each year to pick up many boxes of unsold or especially useful for immigrant items at the end of the fair.
In addition, several Sundays a year Amadou brings a group representing several different New American families to All Saints. It is a wonderful opportunity for the parish community to meet them at the coffee hours and to show them how welcome they are in New Hampshire. Then the group is hosted at a special opening of Lord & Tailor when they can pick out and are given clothes for their families.
After visiting Lord & Tailor, the groups are hosted at a special opening of the Life Ministries Food Pantry, where they are given a generous amount of food and household essentials for their families.
Perhaps the most important thing that the new arrivals to New Hampshire receive on their visits to Wolfeboro is a warm welcome, which makes a huge impression on families who have arrived in the US often after having lived through very trying and hostile circumstances.
A further aspect of the refugee ministry has been through financial donations by the church and by individual parishioners to New Neighbor Connections.
New Neighbor Connections
New Neighbor Connections (NNC) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded by several individuals who work helping immigrant families settling in the US (currently primarily in the Manchester, NH area). Amadou Hamady is a founder and the current president of NNC, which enables him to help New Americans and other immigrants beyond those whom he serves through the school district. NNC also is a means for churches, other organizations, and individual, irrespective of whether they are in Manchester to help welcome and address the needs of immigrants living in the area.
Tax deductible donations can be made to:
New Neighbor Connections
78 Whittemore Rd
Londonderry, NH 03053
EIN: 88-06070585