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<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*opC0kctof5P2xqrJAO-zXQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>Every Campus a Refuge community Gathering: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=416923450585875&amp;set=a.313326187612269">https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=416923450585875&amp;set=a.313326187612269</a></figcaption></figure><p>A couple of weeks ago, the Hello Neighbor Network team traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina to visit Learning Collaborative member, <a href="http://everycampusarefuge.net">Every Campus a Refuge</a>. I was lucky to travel with our National Membership Coordinator, Dustin Butoryak, to meet with <a href="http://everycampusarefuge.net/dr-diya-abdo/">Dr. Diya Abdo</a>, Founder and Executive Director, and her team.</p><p>Every Campus a Refuge (ECAR) started with <a href="http://everycampusarefuge.net/about/every-campus-a-refuge-origins/">some important questions posed by Diya</a>:</p><blockquote>“…what do <em>academic</em> institutions do with broken hearts? With the dead and dying bodies? With the endless convoy of humanity trying to make its way from misery to the unknown? What is our responsibility as teachers, students, and administrators of higher learning? What is our complicity as institutions built on the lands of the dispossessed and displaced?”</blockquote><p>Since 2015, ECAR has mobilized colleges and universities across the U.S. to host refugees on campus grounds and support them in their resettlement. They are working to transform the landscape of refugee resettlement and higher education by creating thousands of sustainable resettlement campus ecosystems from their homebase on Guilford College’s campus in Greensboro, North Carolina.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/540/1*3_M0781yb_rwJo42CTfCdQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>David Richmond (from left), Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and Joseph McNeil leave the Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C., where they initiated a lunch-counter sit-in to protest segregation, Feb. 1, 1960. (No photographers were allowed into the store on the first day of protest.) Photo: <em>Jack Moebes/Corbis</em>.</figcaption></figure><p>The land on which they operate has a long history of radical inclusion and welcoming in the face of oppression. Greensboro, North Carolina was a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2008/02/01/18615556/the-woolworth-sit-in-that-launched-a-movement">center of civil disobedience during the Civil Rights Movement</a> and the <a href="https://library.guilford.edu/undergroundrr">New Garden Woods on Guildford College’s campus was a stop on the Underground Railroad</a>, a refuge for enslaved people seeking freedom. The Quaker history of the institution has a legacy of abolitionism, of re-opening its doors for those in need of refuge even in a broader society that closes them.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*PEDtAVomJ1uhpzBQUQRtMw.png" /><figcaption>Dustin Butoryak, National Membership Coordinator on a tour of Underground Railroad trail at Guilford College.</figcaption></figure><p>During the Network visit, we had the opportunity to visit the <a href="https://www.sitinmovement.org">International Civil Rights Museum</a> where the original Woolworth Counter is preserved along with the history of racism and violence in the U.S. and the brave communities that fought for equality. We also got a tour, led by <a href="https://www.afsc.org/content/max-carter">Max Carter</a>, of the <a href="https://library.guilford.edu/undergroundrr">New Garden Woods</a> “on the land of Saura and Keyawee peoples, settled by European American Friends (Quakers) in the 1700s.”</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*vpAVvV1Upq55p-sFC69K7g.png" /><figcaption>Tulip poplar on in the New Garden Woods.</figcaption></figure><p>Along the path we sat under a tulip poplar tree that has stood and grown as a witness to the history of refuge in the woods, not far from the homes where ECAR has hosted refugee families on their campus in recent years. Their work has branched out beyond the limits of the tree-lined paths into other towns and cities across the U.S. at other academic institutions who want to be a part of welcoming.</p><p>We had the opportunity to meet with ECAR volunteers, families, and staff as well as Guilford College students, faculty, staff, and the President of the University, Dr. Kyle Farmbry, who are all committed to welcoming our newest neighbors. And to visit with one of ECAR’s community partners, <a href="https://reconsideredgoods.org">Reconsidered Goods</a>, a nonprofit creative reuse center that supports housing set up for newly arrived families.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*7OIY5j32_ONtS9O13q5nuA.png" /><figcaption>Reconsidered Goods</figcaption></figure><p>Every site visit feels just a little like walking in the door at Hello Neighbor. Each looks different and does something a little different with the same core goal of building a more welcoming community. Meeting teams like Diya, Walid, and Kathleen at ECAR is like being with our own Hello Neighbor team in Pittsburgh. We learn so much from one another and it’s a balm to know there are so many grassroots organizations working towards creating a more inclusive and welcoming country.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*Vr0Pc5TS0euN467dCSHIRw.jpeg" /><figcaption>Dustin Butoryak (National Membership Coordinator, Network), Walid Mosarsaa (Senior Program Coordinator, ECAR), Kathleen Herbst (Program Coordinator, ECAR), Rachel Vinciguerra (Director of National Programs, Network)</figcaption></figure><p>This is the third of three site visits made possible by our partners at The Starbucks Foundation as the Network completes a storytelling project to be announced in 2023. You can read more about our visits to <a href="https://medium.com/hello-neighbor-network/network-site-visits-in-the-beautiful-state-of-nebraska-f57308fe51f9">Lincoln &amp; Omaha, Nebraska</a>, and <a href="https://medium.com/hello-neighbor-network/the-network-visits-seattle-washington-be256054ad62">Seattle, Washington</a>.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/202/0*tVVLAFfnAchvqODK.png" /></figure><p>Learn more about the <a href="https://www.neighbornetwork.io/">Hello Neighbor Network</a>. <a href="http://eepurl.com/hnAmkT">Sign up for our newsletter</a> to be the first to know the latest from the Network.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=7bd17b95e54" width="1" height="1" alt=""><hr><p><a href="https://medium.com/hello-neighbor-network/finding-refuge-in-greensboro-north-carolina-7bd17b95e54">Finding Refuge in Greensboro, North Carolina</a> was originally published in <a href="https://medium.com/hello-neighbor-network">Hello Neighbor Network</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>