F.R.E.E.’s Impact

Engulfed in love…Kelli Czaykowsky’s impact on the refugee children.

100K+

Thousands of meals provided

F.R.E.E. began in 2010 by providing private school tuition scholarships, meals, and transportation to school for refugee children thus providing an environment where they can flourish both academically and spiritually.

SIGN UP FOR A PROGRAM

Whether you enjoy teaching kids their ABC’s or installing a new sink, we have a job for you!

200+

STUDENTS SPONSORED

We sponsor children in a private school environment which shields them from gang activity, bullying, and violence present in the public school system of their local urban community.

LONG-TERM VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Would you like to commit your time on a regular basis? We currently have long term volunteer openings.

1500+

FAMILIES Assisted

Refugee families from more than 90 different countries, speaking 146 different languages, have been legally resettled into the U.S. through joint efforts of the United Nations and the U.S. State Department.

MAKE A FINANCIAL GIFT

Friends of Refugees providing Education and Empowerment (F.R.E.E.) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We depend on your support!

Donate

Overview

Refugee families have been resettled in the U.S. through joint efforts of the U.N. and the U.S. State Department. Precipitated by horrendous conditions overseas, resettlement was chosen as an attempt to resolve humanitarian crises born of religious/ethnic persecution, war, and genocide including events such as torture, starvation, sex trafficking, rape, murder, and economic discrimination. Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980, the United States has admitted more than 3 million refugees. In the last two decades (after families spent years in refugee camps overseas) roughly 60,000 refugees have been relocated to Georgia. Government statistics report over the past decade (FY 2004 to 30 June 2015) 28,394 refugees were resettled in Georgia. They continue to arrive in Georgia at a rate of 2,500 - 3,000 per year speaking little to no English, with scarcely more than the clothes on their backs. Traumatized and unprepared to support themselves, they need assistance in adapting to life in America whilst beset with issues that typically befall poor inner-city residents.

Over the past 13 years, F.R.E.E. has ministered to and assisted over 1500 families. We help provide adults with resources and assistance with job applications. We have partnered with multiple churches and outside programs to further our support to the refugee community. We have raised thousands of dollars through our fundraising efforts for these children. Assistance provided includes private school tuition for more than 100 students beginning in elementary school through middle school, high school, and college. Since we began in 2010, many have graduated from high school, and a dozen have gone on to college. The first high school graduate went on to graduate from Hartland College with a degree in education. Currently, she is working for ASAP Ministries and has returned to serve as a missionary/educator and translator in the refugee camps in Thailand where she lived as a child. Others have gone on to study at Georgia-Cumberland Academy and Southern Adventist University. One (seeking a DDS degree in dentistry who graduated from SAU in 2021 with high honors) is halfway through her 3rd year of the dentistry program at the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University. Several of our refugee students currently at SAU are pursuing studies in the medical, nursing, psychology, documentary film production, and theology fields.

Occasionally we get asked the question…” Why not support American children first?” Our response to the question is as follows. These legal refugees were granted a “Green Card” and awarded permanent resident status upon entry into the United States. By the time these refugees have been in the United States for several years, they have through great struggle achieved U.S. citizenship; however, without proper education for their children, the majority would remain welfare-dependent. The refugee community of Clarkston and Stone Mountain, Georgia is comprised of refugee immigrants from more than 90 different countries speaking more than 140 different languages. With the extremely diverse student body in the public schools in the local refugee community, the teachers struggle to maintain control which severely hampers both their ability to teach and the refugee students’ ability to learn. Thus, we opted to place them in a private Christian school environment where individualized attention and effective learning were far more readily achievable. We have since discovered that refugee immigrants who escape from welfare dependence through education while being shown by example the duty of a life of Christian service are much more likely and willing to give back to the community than native U.S. citizens. For example, the dentists, doctors, etc. who have worked with our organization in providing care for the refugee children are first-generation refugee immigrants themselves. It is this return on investment that justifies our approach. Moreover, to see beneficiaries of our education sponsorship efforts graduate college, and go on to enter the fields of medical, dental, and missionary work, etc. is truly gratifying.