LOGAN — Several Afghan refugees have been relocated to Cache Valley, according to Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection (CRIC) executive director, Danny Beus. He was a guest on KVNU’s For the People program on Tuesday.
“I’ve told this to people before, we all saw the images of packed cargo planes full of Afghan people evacuating Afghanistan. For some reason, it never crossed my mind that I would be helping those people start over a new life in the United States and here in Cache Valley. But that’s exactly what we’re doing at CRIC, we’re the only non-profit in the state of Utah that is actually doing the resettlement work,” Beus explained.
He said that is outside of the large resettlement agencies. Beus said they are honored to be participating in this program.
“(We’re) excited to say,our Afghan arrivals, or Afghan refugees are thriving here in Cache Valley. So, just as an update, we started with about 18 Afghan refugees, and all of those refugees now have permanent housing, they have full-time jobs that pay well over minimum wage, and they are off of all government support.”
Beus said the community has really come together, as well, to help support these refugees.
CRIC has a couple of events coming up soon, one is on June 3rd, a Barbecue, Brews and Live music event at the Annex on Federal Avenue in Logan.
Their big annual event will be June 18th from 5p.m. to 8p.m. at Willow Park. It’s their World Refugee Day – you can support CRIC and enjoy catering from Tandoori Oven, and actually meet some of the refugee families who have settled in the valley.
“With the pandemic, we haven’t really been able to hold a real World Refugee Day event for a couple years. And so, we’re looking forward to being able to celebrate our refugee and immigrant community here in Cache Valley. It’s an event that’s going to be free for everybody, we will have cultural presentations from many of our clients.”
Beus said there will also be information about services that non-profits and organizations offer in Cache Valley. For more information, visit CacheRefugees.org