In early August, with the many recent asylum seekers staying at the Portland Expo needing homes, a call went out for people to host families in their homes. Wendy Schlotterbeck, Durham’s Youth Minister who has devoted a great deal of time working with the asylum seekers, offered to take a family of eight from East Africa into her home in Auburn. Wendy says the family is settling in well and seems happy to be here. The children are learning English and are excited that school will soon be starting. Wendy brought the mother to a prenatal check-up where they discovered she will be having twins in November, so soon there will be ten!
Wendy says they have many needs, listed below. Please contact Wendy right away if you can help provide something: wendy.schlotterbeck@gmail.com.
1. Cash or gift cards for household and personal needs
2. Soccer shin guards and mouth guards for the 13-year-old and the 14-year-old
3. Laptop insurance fees for two middle school students ($50 each) so they can bring their laptops home
4. Ear buds or earphones for computers (four sets)
5. Extra-large soup pot with lid — extremely needed!!
6. HELP assembling a play structure with slide (needs some sanding and painting)
7. HELP sorting and transporting donations
8. A towel rack (nine people and one bathroom make for a lot of wet towels!). There is a great ladder towel rack at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $69.99. Here is the site:
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/casual-home-decorative-twin-ladders-in white.