As part of the CMS Humanities Department and the Directorate for Military Instruction for JROTC Program’s book study initiative, the Butler JROTC Book Study Team embarked on a Service Learning Project to address “resiliency” within their local immigrant and refugee population.  The cadets recognized that a large majority of this population face many challenges and have overcome them through their resiliency and their drive to make a better life for them and their families.  The influx of immigrants and refugees in many countries has been a rising issue for the past few years, which is caused by the limited amount of opportunities and conflict within their own countries.  Through personal interviews and visits to shelters, the cadets identified many challenges that immigrants face around their communities such as, shortage of food, clothing, education, and general supplies.  Recognizing that in order to start making positive change, the cadets took the initial steps to impact the community by focusing on a specific need within the immigrant community, specifically the young children that required school supplies to support their educational needs.

Through the collaboration with the community Refugee Support Services Coordinator (Ms. Marci Mroz), the Book Study team delivered school and craft supplies to be used in the Refugee Support Services’ Love & Learn children’s program, which meets three days per week so that refugee parents can attend ESL classes, participate in a craft session, or receive important assistance from the Refugee Help Center, while enabling the program to provide the children with high quality educational opportunities and activities.  The Butler JROTC cadets see this as the initial milestone for something greater and look forward to continuing their collaboration with their local communities to make a difference.

For more information on Refugee Support Services visit:  https://www.refugeesupportservices.org/