KRM receives over $1,000 from benefit concert
(Left to Right) Lynette Davidson, oboe, Tony Smith, clarinet, Nan Tate, bassoon, Denine LeBlanc, piano, Margaret Foote Jamner, flute, Michele Chapman, horn, pose for a photo after the March 22 benefit concert for Kentucky Refugee Ministries.
LOUISVILLE ー A benefit concert was held on March 22 by a Kentucky-based sextet, les six, to raise money for Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) amid cuts to federal funding for refugee resettlement organizations.
KRM is a non-profit that looks to provide resettlement services to refugees to promote self-sufficiency and integration into the Kentucky community, according to the group’s website.
Nearly 70 people gathered at St. Brigid Church on March 22 for les six’s annual spring concert.
The concert raised $1,500 for the organization, according to Joseph Caminiti, KRM’s co-sponsorship and volunteer engagement manager. Entry for the event was donation-based with 100 percent of the proceeds going to KRM.
Caminiti spoke during the show’s intermission to share KRM’s mission and thank the crowd of nearly 70 people for their appearance.
“Your being here tonight and strength as a community is precisely what KRM needs,” Caminiti told the audience.
The funds will help with services such as job placement, school registration and tutoring, English as a second language and community orientation classes, and information on the medical system and provider referrals, among many others.
Refugees assigned to KRM are partnered with the staff for three months to receive these services, though the resources and consultations are provided for an entire year.
Caminti explained that KRM ensures that refugees are partnered with co-sponsors, who provide guidance and resources necessary for daily life, including navigating the bus system and the grocery store, and learning other soft and domestic skills.
Les six pianist Denine LeBlanc initiated the move to use the sextet’s spring concert as a means of raising funds for KRM.
“Your being here tonight and strength as a community is precisely what KRM needs”
“I think we started seeing the loss of funding, that’s when we started thinking about what we could do,” LeBlanc said.
While LeBlanc said she’s unsure of the political viewpoints of everyone in the sextext, she said they all agreed that KRM is an orgnaization that shouldn’t lose funding.
A Jan. 20 order from Donald Trump suspended 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,” an explanation of the order stated.
Partners of USRAP include agencies such as the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Resettlement Support Centers, along with several other governmental groups and non-governmental organizations.
Kentucky Refugee Ministries received $1,500 from the les six benefit concert on March 22.
The ten refugee resettlement agencies that were partnered with the government have claimed that their contracts were terminated on Feb. 26, including Church World Service, the parent agency of KRM.
In addition to raising money, LeBlanc said the hope is also that the benefit raised social awareness for the organization, awakening interest in KRM even for people unable to attend the concert.
Les six can be found online at les-six.org and on Facebook at @lessixlou.
Read more about how to volunteer for KRM and co-sponsor refugee families on KRM’s website.
