Dear Friends,

We would like to thank all of our supporters, friends, volunteers, and donors for a wonderful year at Just Neighbors.  Together we were able to serve hundreds of clients with all types of immigration legal matters, uniting families and changing lives in the process.  We look forward, with your help, to an even stronger 2008, as we expect to grow our staff, increase our budget, and work even harder to serve the low-income community of Northern Virginia.

Client Story

At a recent community clinic in our Arlington office, a woman from Syria, Betel, arrived late with her young boy.  A woman from a local church had given Betel a ride and also looked after the boy during the appointment. 

It turned out that the son’s father had naturalized and become a United States citizen.  In this particular case, since the son had a green card and his father is a citizen, the boy automatically had citizenship.  However, Betel did not know how to demonstrate this to government agencies so that the boy could access public benefits such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Betel was a smart, spirited woman, and we were impressed with her determination to do whatever she could to help her son.  As the boy played with toys and stuffed animals in our main office, our attorneys Linda and Allison drafted a letter for Betel to bring to the public benefits office stating why the boy is a U.S. citizen eligible for benefits.  We are continuing to work on getting documentation so that Betel will not have to rely on a letter from Just Neighbors to get assistance for her son.

As Betel, her son, and their ride left our office at 10pm, we were glad that the family had found us and that they had found a generous friend from a church to help them during this difficult time.   

Around the Office

Just Neighbors is thrilled to now be using a state-of-the-art, on-line database system for all our client information.  We have sought to upgrade from our homemade Access database for years but hadn’t had the knowledge or resources to make this leap.  Thanks mainly to two key volunteers-- Bill Stuart and Tom Wheeler-- we have transitioned all client data into the new system.  We will now be able to keep more precise client records, access the database remotely (including from our satellite office in Herndon), have a more secure back-up system, and track more information on clients.

We would like to thank Martha Jane and Gene Rutland for making a generous donation to Just Neighbors in honor of Just Neighbors’ three founders: Janet Horman, Allison Rutland Soulen, and Helen Casey Rutland.  In 1996, these three women-- attorneys and pastors in the United Methodist Church-- had the vision and courage to start an organization dedicated to serving low-income immigrants in dire need of immigration legal help.  With almost no budget and little experience in the field, they founded Just Neighbors because they wanted to make a difference and to involve volunteers in the effort.  Today, over eleven years later, Just Neighbors has grown out of their vision and continues to serve immigrants and refugees with warmth, friendliness, and the help of a concerned community.

We appreciate all of you who have made a gift to Just Neighbors this holiday season and hope that you will remember us during the New Year.

Volunteer of the Month

We would like to honor Bill Stuart as our Volunteer of the Month.  Bill, retired from the Federal government, has worked countless hours to make the transition to our new database possible.  We are grateful for his thoroughness and his patience with those of us less adept at database programming.  It is a joy to have his help in the office. 

Happy New Year!

Rob Rutland-Brown
Executive Director