Aug 30, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A local newspaper in Northern Wisconsin has launched a campaign to help the nearly 500 Catholic refugees, who are arriving from Northern Vietnam this summer and fall.
The Hmong are a Catholic minority in Vietnam, who is continuously persecuted by communist authorities. Many of its leaders have been arrested, tortured and sentenced without just cause.
With its Refugee Relief Fund Do It! Campaign, the Post-Crescent hopes to raise enough funds to meet the refugees’ immediate needs for food, housing, health care and living expenses for at least the first month.
Contributions will go to the Fox Cities Hmong Refugee Resettlement Fund, established within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. Catholic Charities of Green Bay Diocese is responsible for resettling refugees in Wisconsin and will manage the fund, which will be used to help meet immediate needs once government assistance runs out.
Each refugee receives a $400 federal resettlement stipend. Refugees with children are eligible for Wisconsin Works, a welfare-to-work program providing up to $673 a month for 24 months, plus food stamps and medical assistance.