KANSAS CITY – On Saturday, Dec. 16, one Kansas City ministry plans to distribute more than 100 Christmas baskets across the city. Volunteers with Refuge KC will deliver baskets of donated gifts to the homes of refugees from all over the world.
Richard Casebolt, the founder and director of Refuge KC, explained that each basket will be filled with items purchased by local church partners – including cooking spices, seasonal oven mitts, interactive games, and fleece blankets. Additionally, each basket will contain a “storybook with the story of Christmas – the story of Christ’s coming.”
Previously a missionary in Thailand, Casebolt started Refuge KC in 2015 as a way to serve the rapidly growing refugee population in Kansas City.
According to the nonprofit’s website, Refuge KC exists to “welcome our new-American neighbors with gospel-focused ministries of mercy so they might know, love, and follow Jesus into His Kingdom.”
Today, Kansas City’s refugee population has grown to upwards of 23,000 and continues to increase steadily. This group of new Americans includes immigrants from Somalia, Iraq, Burma, the Congo, and many other embattled nations around the world. Many of these immigrants come from cultures with very limited gospel exposure.
Though the Refuge KC team is dedicated to welcoming and serving refugees, Casebolt hopes it will serve an intermediate role in the long term. He expressed his desire for the nonprofit ministry to ultimately be a channel connecting new Americans to the local church.
“We’ve been described as the church’s welcome mat to refugees and immigrants,” Casebolt said. “We really want to be the doorway through which new-American neighbors are introduced to Christians in the churches of Kansas City – Christian families that will befriend them and remain in their lives over a long period of time.”
Casebolt himself is a member of Central Baptist Church, a missional community in the city’s historic Northeast neighborhood, but the Christmas basket event provides an opportunity for refugees to connect with Christian volunteers representing multiple local congregations.
While church members distribute Christmas baskets, they have the chance to begin building long-term relationships, with gospel witness as the end goal. Events like the Christmas giveaway help give shape to Casebolt’s dream that “every refugee or immigrant settled into our city would have an identifiable Christian friend, that they would have a Christian witness in their life.”
Even as Refuge KC serves hundreds of new Americans this Christmas, Casebolt has an eye toward the challenges and opportunities expected in the coming year. He noted that, with war raging on across the globe and breaking out afresh in some countries, the influx of refugees entering the United States isn’t likely to slow down any time soon.
“As we look ahead, we see ample opportunities in 2024,” Casebolt shared. “It is predicted to be a record-breaking year of arrivals.”
Despite the faltering economy, Refuge KC is trusting that the Lord will continue to provide partners and funds needed to operate in the new year. As a nonprofit, Refuge KC relies entirely on the generosity of financial partners to sustain its vital ministry toward those seeking refuge in the United States.
Ultimately, Casebolt noted, “We want them to sense the refuge that Christ is to us. That’s why we love that term from the book of Psalms where God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
More information about Refuge KC can be found at the organization’s website, www.refugekc.org. Churches interested in partnering with Refuge KC can reach out via email at info@refugekc.org.