Glendale church awarded grant to assist refugees

St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Glendale won a $5,000 grant from a Minnesota-based organization to help secure food, clothing and a home for local refugees and others in need as they work with the Atwater Village-based Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Service, or IRIS.

The church won the grant from the Minneapolis-based Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation. For every dollar raised by the church from donors through March 31, the foundation will match up to 50 cents per dollar, or up to $5,000 more.

Many of IRIS’ recent refugees hail from Afghanistan or Iraq and come to the U.S. with their lives in danger upon being discovered for helping American military troops, said Debbie Decker, a community resource developer for IRIS.

St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church has worked hand-in-hand with IRIS for several years, with volunteers working at food pantry events and supplying the organization with home furnishings, gifts and clothes for refugees as they make their new homes in the greater Los Angeles area.

“We don’t usually get protein sources,” Decker said, because the cost of turkey, chicken and eggs has increased along with the high demand for food. “This money could really help us to give out more substantial food to families.”

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