2024 - Year End

The end of the year is a good time to reflect and plan. (And to remind all of you of our existence, since end of the year giving helps keep nonprofits in business.) This report summarizes the past three years, 2022 thru 2024.

Main activities to assist legal refugees

• Started two volunteer resettlement groups. The first, along with three local friends, resettled three Afghan Air Force pilots under Operation Allies Welcome. The second, along with four local friends, resettled a three generation family under Uniting for Ukraine. Since 1980, these were the first two refugee resettlements in Idaho Falls, and the first two resettlements led solely by volunteer groups anywhere in Idaho. (Thousands of refugees have been resettled since 1980 by several agencies in and around Boise and Twin Falls.)

• Welcomed three more Afghan Air Force pilots who chose to move to Idaho Falls after being resettled elsewhere in the US.

• Welcomed two Afghan wives who have (finally!) arrived through family reunification visas. We are helping the other four pilots with their family reunification efforts, which are ongoing.

• Welcomed two new babies who were born in Idaho Falls. (Kim Mitchell got to hold a hand during labor and cut a cord.)

• Counting the four remaining women and two children in Afghanistan who will be coming to join their husbands, we have directly assisted 20 people, and are in personal contact with all of them.

Main activities to help the community welcome them

• Made face-to-face introductions between refugees and the College of Eastern Idaho, political leaders, employers, humanitarian groups, and faith communities.

• Gave sixteen educational presentations about refugees to community organizations, totalling thousands of people face-to-face, and more through podcasts.

• Sent out a quarterly newsletter, which often returns insightful replies. Newsletters and other resources are archived on the IFBB website. https://sites.google.com/view/idaho-falls-bridge-builders/home/newsletters?authuser=0

• Actively worked with groups and individuals who vary politically from deep red to deep blue, and in faith backgrounds from LDS to Presbyterian to Muslim to Unaffiliated.

Who provides the funding, and how much has been given?

Over the past three years we have received a total of about $80k in cash donations, almost all from within Idaho Falls, with more than half from individuals. See charts at the end of the report.

There have also been non-cash donations with a total estimated value of about $50k.  Most of that went directly to the newcomers. They were given the rent-free use of a house for one year, then a different house for two years, used vehicles, and a house full of clothes, food, and  household items. (Also a few nice fly rods and some camping gear. We are, after all, located in Idaho Falls.)

Where does the money go?

We don’t have employees, the board of directors has covered overhead expenses, and we have no desire to create an endowment, so almost all of the donations have already gone for the direct benefit of the newcomers. The spending mix looks like this:

• Some reunification money is already being used for the family members  who haven’t arrived yet. They need money for visa fees, medical exams, etc.

• Housing expenses were primarily upgrades and maintenance on the donated houses. Using volunteers and contractors when needed, we helped convert the second house into one with a separate living unit in the basement.

• Transportation includes buying one car, driving lessons, the first six months of maintenance and insurance, etc. And domestic airfare for the U4U family when they arrived.

• Education funds are paid directly to ISU and CEI. The newcomers have also qualified for scholarships and financial aid directly from the schools, independent of IFBB.

• Our overhead costs have been to set up and maintain the 501c3, and purchase General and D&O insurance. We have encountered occasional opposition to assisting Muslims and refugees coming to Idaho and insurance was prudent. Fortunately the opposition has been directed at us and not the newcomers. They have all felt welcomed and supported in this city.

• Most of the non-cash donations went directly to the newcomers. About fifty individuals and one church gave non-cash donations.

• All of these charts cross three years, include some estimates, and are for information only.  IFBB tax returns and tax receipts are year-by-year and use exact numbers. 

What do you plan for the next three years?

• Each year since 1980 the president has set a cap on the number of refugees who can enter the US. (It is one of the only immigration decisions the president controls directly.) The highest cap was 200k under Ronald Reagan, the lowest cap was 15k under Donald Trump. We don’t expect many new refugee arrivals.

• We will focus on supporting the newcomers who are already here, and their families, including the family reunification of the Afghan Air Force pilots.

• These Afghan women have been individually and directly impacted by the horrific repression of the Taliban regime.  We want them to thrive in the US, and have access to the kind of educational opportunities they have been denied. If you make a year end donation it will go to continuing education.

• We will find ways for the newcomers to use their voices in ways they choose to benefit Idaho Falls and their home communities. 

• We will help the Idaho Falls community celebrate the privilege of having these military and women’s rights heroes living here. We will find a way for the community to celebrate Hazara Culture day each May 19th. 

• We probably will be more engaged with Afghan integration than Ukrainian. The two US resettlement programs were different.  Operation Allies Welcome intended a path to citizenship and integration. U4U provided two years of Humanitarian Parole, with no path to citizenship. Put simply, if our Afghan Air Force friends returned to their home country, they would probably be detained at the border and executed. If our Ukrainian friends returned, they would be welcomed. 

• Our supporters and volunteers have been amazing. The median individual donation has been $1000. Our favorite downtown church has given consistently and generously. The IF African American Alliance helped put us on the map by featuring us at an MLK banquet. Operation Reunification raised $24k in one month. Whenever we ask for volunteers you show up.  Thank you all! In the next three years we will do a better job of reaching out to organizations, including churches, and also develop some kind of corporate sponsorship program.

• Most of all we will continue to spend time in person with the newcomers and the other new friends we have made in Idaho Falls through Bridge Builders. We are learning from all of you, and enjoying your company. We have been blessed more than we have been a blessing.

Joe and Kim Mitchell December 2024  Charts follow: