Author: morethanadmin

Dear friends and family of More Than Welcome, Please join us in remembering and celebrating all that God did in 2025 through More Than Welcome by viewing our first ever annual Impact Report! We recognize it is an honor and privilege to serve these friends and steward the many gifts that God has brought together for this work. And, we couldn’t do it without you! Thank you for sharing our vision to help refugees and asylum seekers find refuge in Christ through the love of the church.

The summer months have been eventful and rewarding for More Than Welcome. After a stressful start, due to the sudden closing of Refugee Services of Texas, we find ourselves entering Fall very grateful for the wonderful partners we have in serving the refugee, asylum-seeker, and immigrant community. We were able to partner with many area churches and individuals to bridge the needs of more than 50 different families.

This past month has been a very eventful month for the refugee and asylum seeking community. There continues to be many refugee and asylum seeking families moving to the Austin area.  We continue to meet new families from Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, and Venezuela.  The need for assistance is great. As you know, More Than Welcome officially launched on May 2nd. Within the first two weeks of launching, Refugee Services of Texas (RST), the resettlement agency in the Austin area, suddenly and unexpectedly announced that they were closing.  This has left many families in a desperate state. Many received eviction notices due to unpaid rent.  Many do not have their needed identification and work permits processed, and many have not been enrolled in Medicaid or SNAP food benefits.  They do not know where to turn for help. More Than Welcome has reached out to many churches in the Austin area and other supporters are stepping forward to offer financial assistance and to volunteer their time to help our neighbors.  We were able to assist with paying rent for many families to help them avoid eviction. We were able to organize a team of volunteers to help enroll families for food and medical benefits, and apply for emergency cash assistance.  The Austin Stone Church organized a food donation drive and we were able to help distribute food to more than 40 families. We are attempting to organize some summer classes for refugee children and are assisting to find  employment as we are able. It has been a busy but beautiful time to engage with the refugee and asylum seekers community. You can see a news article that was featured on KXAN depicting the acute needs of the refugees and how the church is stepping in to help here: KXAN story Our ongoing goal is to be able to build a team that includes members who can be a constant resource to this community so that they will feel seen, assisted, and welcomed. This would include a case manager, interpreter, donations coordinator, and volunteer coordinator as well as a consistent link between the Austin area churches and contributors. We would love your help to help build our team. If you would like to support our greater vision, please consider donating here: More Than Welcome Donation How can you help? Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:1-2