Thirty-seven years of crossing cultural boundaries, learning other languages, living on 3 different continents, and meeting the most amazing people.
Each time there was a fork in the road, we thoughtfully prayed and considered the options. We did not plan to begin our retirement from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) during the pandemic, but the pandemic changed many things.
When Butch retired from CBF three years ago, I took a new position with the intention of retiring from CBF after three years. The time has come NOT TO RETIRE but to retire from CBF.
Moving Threads by Nomad and The Off Ramp from Houston to the east coast was inevitable; we just didn’t think it would happen when it did—in 2020. It turns out that was a good thing!
It allowed us to relearn the area, get a feel for the situation with refugees and immigrants in the Carolinas, and restructure for our new environment. With my retirement from CBF, we are ready to take The Off Ramp and Threads by Nomad to the next level in this new environment.
We have not been idle. We will be working on our impact report in the coming weeks, but to give you a synopsis of the last three years:
We have helped resettle 3 refugee families with an ongoing deep relationship with a family from Afghanistan.
We have started a furniture bank partnership with a local business and a local church. We have already served more than 20 families.
We have worked with multiple seamstresses in the Charlotte and Raleigh, NC areas to help them develop skills and product for resale.
We have granted numerous machines both sewing machines and
We have granted numerous machines both sewing machines and sergers to refugee women desiring to sew from home.
We have active and collaborative partnerships in Uganda, Senegal, Kyrgyzstan, and Kenya.
We continue work and partnerships in Houston.
These are just a few of the ways that we are working to help those who are displaced or in danger of displacement to thrive.
We are indeed ready to take things to the next level; these are exciting days and sharing them with you brings us joy! But we've never been able to do this work without your support, and we won't be able to continue to do it without you now.
Here are ways we can journey together:
follow us on social media—we are active on Instagram and Facebook
tell others about us
share info about our work and suggest to others to sign up for our emails
choose a specific project to invest in
support us financially with either a one-time financial gift or a monthly contribution
share with us how we can support you as you engage with refugees and others who are displaced—you can just reply to this email!
We are excited about this fork in the road. Thank you for taking the journey with us!
With gratitude,
Nell (and Butch)
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