A week-long cultural celebration of Missoula’s refugee community kicks off Friday at Imagine Nation Brewing.
Mary Poole, the executive director of the Missoula non-profit Soft Landing, says "Welcoming Week is a national week of events to celebrate refugees and immigrants in our communities and to bring them together with other folks in the community."
This is the second year Soft Landing has partnered with local organizations to celebrate the nearly 200 refugees who have resettled in the city since 2016.
Poole says events will include a middle eastern supper club at the Top Hat, a soccer match, trivia night, a film screening at the Roxy, a drum performance, an advocacy day with the International Rescue Committee, and an Eritrean coffee ceremony.
"It’s such a beautiful ceremony," says Poole. "It’s passed from mother to daughter and we’re working really hard to make sure that the Eritrean community feels supported in passing that tradition, that they’re given opportunity to do so."
You can find out more about Welcoming Week here.
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