World Relief Minnesota

volunteer job descriptions

Below you’ll find one-paragraph descriptions of the volunteer opportunities available at World Relief Minnesota. You also can download one-page postion descriptions from our Catalog of Volunteer Opportunities. pdf files can be accessed by clicking on the position titles

Refugee Arrival Preparation Workers

Provide a warm welcome to an arriving refugee family by helping to prepare their first home in Minnesota. This may include cleaning the apartment, arranging household items and/or furniture, checking for repairs, and greeting the family at the airport. This is could be a one-time or ongoing opportunity for a small group or family new to working with refugees or with limited availability during normal ‘office hours’.

Resettlement Services Volunteer

Partner with World Relief’s Case Management team in welcoming and providing Reception & Placement services for refugees throughout the 90 day resettlement period by transporting clients to various appointments and remaining with them throughout the appointment to ensure its completion. Types of appointments include: applying for public assistance at the county, applying for Social Security cards, ESL and school registration, applying for a state ID at a DMV office, WIC appointments, trips to the grocery store, doctor appointments, and clothing closet or furniture appointments. You will have the opportunity to interact with refugees from various cultural backgrounds and learn much about our area’s local government services and social services systems.

Home Orientation Coaches

Using provided home orientation curriculum materials, help refugees understand what it means to be a responsible tenant in the U.S. and how to take care of their apartment home and community. Providing this information to a refugee family could be the difference between a clean, safe, and stable home and an eviction.

Donation Room Coordinators

Help ensure the overall efficiency of World Relief Minnesota (WRM) in collecting and distributing in-kind resources for newly arrived refugees. Resources include hygiene products, kitchen ware and utensils, bedding, towels, cleaning products, and warm clothing.

Resource Drive Coordinators

We need Coordinators for both the Warm Welcome Program and for Welcome Kit Drives. Arriving refugees need household items, personal hygiene products, and warm clothing.
Warm Welcome Program. As the weather grows colder, WRM invites community members to provide a warm welcome to our newest neighbors who are experiencing their first Minnesota winter. We ask donors to give new or gently used winter coats, boots, warm socks, hats, gloves/mittens, scarves, and warm sweaters. We need volunteers who can recruit businesses, churches, or schools to participate in these drives. In addition, these volunteers will be trained so they are able to talk about the needs of refugees and the resettlement work of World Relief Minnesota.
Welcome Kit Drives. When a refugee family arrives in Minnesota, they often carry all of their possessions in just one or two bags. These bags are all they have, but to set up a new household they need all of the basic items we have in our homes. One way of creating awareness about refugees while helping them meet some of their basic needs is to collect ‘Welcome Kit’ items for refugee families. WRM needs volunteers who can recruit businesses, churches, or schools to participate in drives for hygiene products, cleaning supplies, kitchenware, sheets and blankets, or entire Welcome Kits (we have a list of the items). In addition, these volunteers will be trained so they are able to talk about the needs of refugees and the resettlement work of World Relief Minnesota.

Transportation Assistants for Refugees Seeking Jobs

In order to become self-sufficient, refugees must be able to access their cash assistance and find employment. Transportation is one of the largest barriers for refugees attempting to accomplish these tasks. For refugees enrolled in WRM’s Employment Services Department or Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) program, you can eliminate this barrier by providing transportation or accompanying them on the bus to job interviews, first days of work, or appointments with the RCA Coordinator.

Mentors for Refugee Job Seekers

Provide assistance, support, and encouragement to a new refugee in search of employment by: discussing career goals and American work culture; identifying skills and experiences to use in creating résumé; assisting in the job search, application, and interview process; and providing transportation for job-related activities. This is a wonderful opportunity to establish a relationship with a refugee while directly assisting them with a critical task.

New Neighbors

Refugees resettled through World Relief Minnesota encounter many obstacles during their first several months in the U.S. WRM’s New Neighbor Program seeks to empower members of the local church to respond to God’s persistent call to welcome the ‘stranger’ by connecting newly arrived refugee families to volunteers who provide the needed support during these critical moments in cultural adjustment. The goal of the New Neighbor Program is for refugees and volunteers to build relationships and participate in cultural exchange as the refugee families resettle in the Twin Cities. Through this process, refugees and volunteers come to see one another as neighbors instead of strangers. To be a neighbor, whether you are the refugee or the volunteer, is to be a friend, a cultural broker, a teacher, and a learner.

Citizenship Class Tutors

World Relief Minnesota offers a weekly citizenship class to help refugees and immigrants prepare for the US citizenship exam. In the citizenship class, students learn the English and civics knowledge necessary to pass the citizenship exam. Classes are taught by an experienced volunteer teacher, and each student is paired one-on-one with a volunteer tutor. Classes meet Thursday nights, 6:30 to 8:30 pm, at the World Relief Minnesota office in Richfield. Over the past three years, the World Relief Minnesota citizenship class has served students from 25 countries and more than 60 “graduates” have gone on to pass their exams and become US citizens!

Somali Adult Literacy Training (SALT)

Our Somali neighbors are learning English and how to adjust to life in Minnesota after escaping the violence of civil war and the extreme hardship of refugee camps. Join us in welcoming and loving our new neighbors. SALT volunteers meet with a Somali man or woman once a week to build a friendship as you help them learn English and learn how to read. The purpose of this position is: 1) To build friendship and trust while helping students learn to communicate in English, and 2) at times to help a student learn to read and write for the first time in their lives.

Homework Helper

After being enrolled in school, many of the children and young adult refugees need help with their home work. Volunteers willing to tutor in any/all subjects are welcome.