About 850 Burmese refugees arrived in Fort Wayne in 2008, 600 the year before, joining an estimated 5,000 already here. Many come to join family or friends after first being resettled in another city, so no one is certain just how many Burmese refugees are living in Allen County.

But what agencies are certain of is that many hands and open hearts are needed to assist refugees as they make their home in a new land, which has led international aid organization World Relief, based in Baltimore, to open an office in Fort Wayne. It is located at 2501 S. Harrison St. in donated space within Simpson United Methodist Church.

World Relief's mission is to “empower churches to minister to refugees in America with the compassion of Christ,” said Jeff Keplar, director of the agency's Fort Wayne office.

In recent years, Catholic Charities was the only State Department-sanctioned refugee resettlement agency sponsoring Burmese refugees to Fort Wayne. World Relief, also an approved resettlement agency, and Catholic Charities are two of just 10 such organizations in the nation.

At the outset, World Relief is going to work with refugees already here. Whether the agency will sponsor more refugees to the area - and how many - is undetermined.

“We're still working all that out,” Keplar said, noting World Relief is involved in resettlement work with refugees in 23 other U.S. cities. Fort Wayne is Indiana's first World Relief site.

World Relief works collaboratively with other community groups, but what sets it apart from other humanitarian organizations is that volunteers from churches are at the core of operations, with World Relief identifying areas of need and providing training and a connection to resources. The goal is to live by the example set in Leviticus 19:34 in the Bible: “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself.” (New International Version)

Keplar, previously executive pastor at the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission, has hired Burma native James Shwe as a case manager. A second case manager and a volunteer coordinator will be hired soon.

The typical model for World Relief ministry is finding volunteer families to be initial hosts or mentors to a refugee family. Keplar and his wife, Carol, who is executive director of Habitat For Humanity, are mentors to several Burmese. “They are so loving, so appreciative of what is done for them. They want to learn English, to be acclimated to America,” Keplar said.

Shwe, who speaks five languages and arrived in the United States just seven months ago from a Thai refugee camp, was 6 when his family fled Burma after the military junta took over the country in 1988. Soon after arriving here, Shwe began volunteering in the community because he wanted to give back.

Keplar is aware of criticism of refugee influx and misunderstanding of why they have come.

“These people were persecuted in their own countries,” he said. “They have suffered so much from a humanitarian aspect. Now they have to depend on others. They arrive at the airport with one little bag with all their worldly belongings.

“We have such an opportunity to reach out, to get out of ourselves,” Keplar said, to not let selfishness, even in uncertain times, thwart compassion. Such was the case for Keplar recently while in training with World Relief in Aurora, Ill., when he and a caseworker visited a new Burmese refugee family.

“There were three generations in one room that had come over together. When we arrived, the grandfather grabbed my hand. He had a very big smile. There was one piece of furniture, a futon pad - no frame, just the pad on the floor. He motioned for me to sit on it. … It was his way of showing me honor and how grateful he was that we had come to help.”

Keplar said World Relief's call to the community is “to join hands and work together for the good of the Burmese. We're not pushing a church. Our purpose is to do what Scripture says, to take care of the poor, the less fortunate. That's our example from Christ himself.”