› First Place Swarthmore: Calling All Volunteers!
First Place Swarthmore is a transitional housing location for newly arrived families into our area. It is a ministry initiated by SPC but owned by the whole community.
› First Place Swarthmore: Calling All Volunteers!
First Place Swarthmore is a transitional housing location for newly arrived families into our area. It is a ministry initiated by SPC but owned by the whole community.
T
he care for and nurture of families seeking refuge in our local area has been a ministry off and on for members of SPC going back many years—it is in our DNA to open wide our arms and to make people feel at home. We continue this long history with a new endeavor we are calling, First Place Swarthmore. First Place Swarthmore is a transitional housing location for newly arrived families into our area. In close partnership with Bethany Christian Services as an agency approved by the US State Department to resettle refugees in our area, we will house and provide support to families for a short period (typically 4-6 weeks) as Bethany Christian Services works to find a more permanent location for them to settle in our area. This will allow us to ideally help to house multiple families over the course of a year, providing a safe and welcoming place for them right as they arrive into the United States and begin to get their feet on the ground. We see this as a ministry initiated by SPC but owned by the whole community, and so our efforts to build support are both within and outside of our membership.
To learn the many different ways you can volunteer to help with FPS, click here and view our brochure!
› First Place Swarthmore: Calling All Volunteers!
Make a donation: If you would like to donate to First Place Swarthmore through the SPC online payment portal, click here.
Make a donation to FPS: If you would like to donate to First Place Swarthmore through the SPC online payment portal, click here.
› First Place Swarthmore Update: March, 2025
› First Place Swarthmore Update: March, 2025
T
he mission of First Place Swarthmore from the outset was to provide temporary housing and support to newly arrived refugee families. We have faithfully and joyfully done this now for nearly three years, serving a total of thirteen families, 53 children and adults who have arrived in the Philadelphia area from Guatemala, Afghanistan, Syria, Congo, Somalia, and Venezuela. We have over 100 volunteers from the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church, neighboring faith communities, and the wider community who have pitched in to help in many ways, including transportation, ESL, orientation to our community, assistance with moving, keeping track of donations, setting up playdates, and much more. Our partnerships with other organizations, faith groups, institutions and local businesses in the community are just as broad in scope and fundamental to how we have been able to provide such robust support. Three years in, in-kind donations are valued to be nearly $95,000, while financial support received is approximately $133,081. The generosity of it all is overwhelming and a signifier of the commitment this community has to the value of refugee resettlement and helping make this place a home for our newest neighbors.
With this commitment affirmed, First Place Swarthmore will continue steadfastly to serve refugee families, offering support and care. However, due to an Executive Order given on January 20, 2025, entitled, Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program, which “suspends the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States,” we are forced to suspend the housing initiative of First Place Swarthmore. Given that this is not a choice we would have made, it was with heavy hearts that the Session of SPC has decided to end the lease on the apartment on Park Ave. With the above Executive Order in place, all refugee resettlement into the United States has been cut off. There are no legal pathways that allow people to seek refuge here and thus this temporary housing will not be utilized.
While the lease has ended, First Place Swarthmore will continue the work of hospitality and care. Welcome to the stranger and care for the vulnerable are core theological values and remain at the center of our faith. We know the value that refugees bring to our communities and nation, and we have learned this directly through those whom we have had the gift to welcome. First Place Swarthmore will pivot its focus from temporary housing to continue caring for the families we have already worked alongside, as well as to provide opportunities for accompaniment, education, and advocacy.
Thank you to all who have supported and journeyed with us through our first three years. We hope you will continue to support First Place Swarthmore!
For inquiries of how you can continue to support FPS, please click here to email Rev. Sarah Cooper Searight.
› Book Discussion: The Truth About Immigration by Exequiel (Zeke) Hernandez
Hosted by First Place Swarthmore (FPS)
Sunday, March 30 / 11:45 am (following worship)
in the Study, lunch provided
› Book Discussion: The Truth About Immigration by Zeke Hernandez
Hosted by First Place Swarthmore
Sunday, March 30 / 11:45 am
(following worship)
in the Study, lunch provided
F
irst Place Swarthmore invites you to join us for a discussion on the recently published book by Wharton Professor Zeke Hernandez, The Truth About Immigration. In this time when all pathways of immigration into the United States have been closed, and building on the opportunity to hear the book discussed by the author at earlier events in March (see events included in below by sister Presbyterian congregations in the area), this is an invitation to gather as those who would like to dive deeper into the conversation. Whether or not you are able to attend the other events, you are welcome to this one. We invite you to purchase and read the book in advance of the conversation, and to come with your own questions and observations of this book around the central topic of the value of immigrants to our shared society. The Rev. Sarah Cooper Searight will convene our space and lead the conversation. We hope you will invite friends and neighbors who are interested to join in. Please RSVP to the Church Office (610-543-4712) by Wednesday, March 26 so that we might plan enough for the meal. Click here to order the book.
First Place Swarthmore Videos
FPS Videos
Moment for Stewardship: First Place Swarthmore
Written by Joyce VanRavenswaay, and narrated & produced by Charlie Seymour Jr.
Written by Joyce VanRavenswaay, and narrated & produced by Charlie Seymour Jr.
Moment for Mission: First Place Swarthmore
From the SPC worship service on December 11, 2022 by Bob McCauley
From the SPC worship service on December 11, 2022 by Bob McCauley
First Place Swarthmore Dedication & Blessing – August 7, 2022
(Video by Charlie Seymour Jr. / Photos by Betty Ann Flynn)
(Video by Charlie Seymour Jr. / Photos by Betty Ann Flynn)
To Our Community Stakeholders
We want to make sure to facilitate good communication and updates to all of our community stakeholders. We will be working on a regular mechanism to share updated information and needs. All of this can be found on this web page, and we will send the link out to our growing mailing list as updates are posted.
To Our Community Stakeholders
We want to make sure to facilitate good communication and updates to all of our community stakeholders. We will be working on a regular mechanism to share updated information and needs. All of this can be found on this web page, and we will send the link out to our growing mailing list as updates are posted.
