World Relief Seattle helps displaced people start a new life in the Pacific Northwest. These are some of their stories, and the stories of volunteers who have made a difference.

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Hone remembers Bruce Kennedy, the humble, unassuming Chairman Emeritus of Alaska Airlines who died in June when his small plane crashed in Eastern Washington.

Bruce, with his wife Karleen, opened their home—again and again—to refugees fleeing war and terror in their home countries.

Hone, his wife and three sons were the first.
When the family arrived at SeaTac airport, they had left their country and life as they knew it behind in Cambodia to start a new life free from the Khmer Rouge’s persecution and brutality. 

And Karleen and Bruce Kennedy, volunteers for World Relief, were there to take them into their home---frightening as the prospect seemed to the new arrivals. 
The family would be living with the Kennedys for who-knew-how-long, becoming family to each other and life-long friends in the process.

That was nearly 30 years and 24 other refugee families ago, when the Kennedys began serving as God’s Hotel for persecuted refugees seeking to make Seattle their new home of freedom..  

"The Kennedys have opened their home to Sudanese, Kosovars, Bosnians, Somali Bantu, Turks, etc. – nearly every ethnic group we've ever served in Seattle,” said Kelly Pearson,  spokesperson for World Relief’s office in Seattle.  “They embody Christian hospitality.  They know what it means to make room for hurting people in our country – even with only a day’s notice.”

When the Kennedys decided to volunteer their time and their home to help refugees through World Relief, they set up their basement with beds, desks and toys so they would be able to welcome a refugee family at any time of the day or night. 

Bruce Kennedy was the Chairman Emeritus of Alaska Airlines, having served as its CEO from 1979 through 1991, when the airline grew significantly. He was a long time member of John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle. 

Karleen and her friend Gloria Lomax created the "Talk Time" curriculum that many organizations use to help immigrants learn English by practicing with Americans.  Karleen continues to lead a weekly English as a Second Language Bible class at John Knox that includes refugees from

• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• China
• Sudan
• Afghanistan

Karleen still puts on miles transporting 15-year-old Nejowa and her wheelchair to adaptive basketball practice and games as well as to medical appointments

Cal Uomoto, an 18-year veteran of World Relief, who heads up the Seattle World Relief office, says,

"The most difficult part of being a refugee next to leaving your homeland is arriving at the new one, where there are new systems, new expectations, new laws, a new culture, and a new language – one that takes years to master.  Our job is to hold their hands and walk them through this difficult time of adjustment when something as simple as grocery shopping or using an ATM machine completely overwhelms them.”

The Kennedys and Hone’s family remained close friends, as the Kennedys have with all of the refugee families they have housed over the past three decades.  Those friendships are renewed every year as these refugee families, the refugees' children and now their grandchildren stream back to the Kennedy home each year for a Christmas open house and a Fourth of July picnic.  Said Karleen: 

“They all became part of our family the moment we met them at the airport, and family is forever.”

World Relief, along with our team of volunteers and donors, helped over 600 refugees begin new lives last year in the Puget Sound.

“They all became part of our family the moment we met them at the airport, and family is forever.”