Kalamazoo College student brings refugee aid to college campuses

By Madison Bennett | MLive

KALAMAZOO, MI - A sophomore at Kalamazoo College started a student organization aiding refugees which has now sparked interest from other colleges around Michigan.

Emily Worline, founder and president of Refugee Outreach Kalamazoo, started the student-run organization at Kalamazoo College less than a year ago.

The organization's mission is to bridge the gap between displaced populations and receiving communities through education, building relationships and fundraising, Worline said.

After spending time in Greece volunteering at a refugee camp, Worline was so inspired, she brought her efforts in aiding refugees back to Kalamazoo.

"It just didn't really feel like I had done anything worthwhile," she said.

Worline said upon her return from Greece over the summer, herself along with other students hosted a furniture drive.

While the furniture drive operated under ROK, the organization did not become official until fall 2016 and almost immediately sparked interest from other college campuses.

ROK now has chapters at Michigan State University and Western Michigan University, with interest from Grand Valley State University and a future chapter coming to the University of Michigan.

"It just kind of fell naturally into place," Worline said.  

Nathan Browning, president of the ROK chapter at WMU, said that Worline had approached him while the group was known as Advocates for Refugees in Crisis about working together.

"I started thinking, you know, what can one student organization do versus what can they do if they all work together under the same umbrella and the presidents are sharing ideas and really working together," Worline said.

Eventually, Advocates For Refugees in Crisis made the switch and began running under ROK.

"We're working on the same thing, we might as well work together," Browning said.

The chapters operate individually and as a whole, sharing and collaborating on ideas and events. The chapter presidents meet once a week outside of chapter meetings, with some participating through a conference call.

The organization has hosted events on each campus including screenings of the documentary, "Lost Boys of Sudan," educational talks, discussions and more.

ROK also hosted a refugee family, working closely with Samaritas and Bethany Christian Services, two organizations that have helped relocate refugee families to Southwest Michigan.

"To me, it's just like we're never doing enough," Worline said.

While the organization is based on college campuses and aimed towards students, Worline said for those outside of the campus community that want to get involved, donations are the best way to do so.

For more information on ROK or to make a donation, visit www.rokyourworld.org. 

This post originally appeared April 17, 2017 on MLive.com.