ABOUT
Friends of Refugees providing Education and Empowerment (F.R.E.E.) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization EIN #47-1667780. We are committed to financial integrity and transparency. As a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organisation, F.R.E.E. complies with U.S. Federal and State laws.
History
F.R.E.E. began in 2010 by providing parochial school tuition, busing, and school lunches for refugee children in an environment where they are provided the individual attention they require. A parochial school educational environment shields them from the gang activity, bullying, and violence present in the local public school system and surrounding community. Subsequently, we became aware of the great physical and emotional needs in their community as well. F.R.E.E. strives to meet these needs by soliciting and distributing donations of money, food, services, and gently-used goods including clothing, furniture, bedding, shoes, toys, bicycles, baby supplies and common household items. F.R.E.E. also provides fun learning activities in the Clarkston community to increase the children’s knowledge of the society in which they now live. Importantly, F.R.E.E. also provides transport to/from medical and legal appointments in situations where we can help. We also arrange dental care through a network of licensed dentists who work closely with our organization.
how we operate
F.R.E.E. collaborates with individuals, groups and organizations, to arrange sponsors and conduct fundraiser. We also transport and distribute donations, all through the efforts of a volunteer staff with diverse backgrounds and a wide array of skill sets.
We provide transportation for the refugee children to/from school, special events, Summer camp, and extracurricular activities.
We hold community outreach events distributing food, clothing, household goods, toys, health screening, haircuts, etc.
We provide parking lot surgery...Not really, but we help where we are able.
We arrange medical, dental, and legal appointments, then transport to / from appointments, hospital visits, etc.
We assist refugee parents with aid applications and school registrations.
We partner with student missionaries allowing them to gain real world field experience.
Thanks and appreciation to the large group of volunteer tutors for providing extracurricular tutoring for an even larger group of refugee students from the nearby refugee community in Clarkston, Georgia.
F.R.E.E. Maintains an outreach center in the Clarkston, GA refugee community Which we utilize to Distribute donated food, clothing, furniture, household goods, etc.
We also provide tutorting classes to Assist refugees with an assortment of needs ranging from school homework, English language skills, Lessons about God etc. we also take time to answer their questions about most anything. While there is some overlap between the refugee students whose attendance in private school we sponsor, most of the refugee children we serve in the outreach center attend public school. Therefore, what makes the tutoring program so valuable is that in many cases the parents are unable to help their children with school work because...
1. the parents are working afternoons and evenings.
2. the parents never had more than a rudimentary education themselves.
3. The Parents lack sufficient english Language skills.
WE PROVIDE BICYCLES, Balls, toys, and classes for English as a second language.
Paw Ner Moo (aka. Jasmine Lin, a Karen refugee from Myanmar) whose education was sponsored by F.R.E.E. was the first of our refugee children to graduate from Atlanta Adventist Academy (AAA). She continued her college education at Hartland Adventist College where she is scheduled to graduate in 2019. We are especially proud that upon graduation she will return to South East Asia to work as a missionary educator.
February 17, 2017 - Over the past six years Niang Muang has been a F.R.E.E. sponsored refugee student at DACS/AAA. Niang proudly holds paperwork confirming that she has been awarded a scholarship to attend Southern Adventist University (SAU) as she continues towards her goal of becoming a dentist. Nia richly deserves the scholarship award as she has worked long and hard to achieve scholastic excellence as she maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout high school at AAA). Having graduated from AAA in May 2017, Niang is now in her second year at SAU. We expect great things from her upon her graduation from SAU. (See next photo below.)
Summer 2017 - Working as a volunteer dental assistance in one of the local pediatric dentist offices to which we take many of the refugee children for dental care, Nia is gaining invaluable knowledge and practical experience towards her goal of becoming a dentist.
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