How has your life been impacted by COVID-19? Although it sometimes feel like an uphill battle against the virus, the pandemic has revealed that our everyday, collective actions are what truly help fight COVID-19. This campaign is aimed at educating the public about our Natural Helpers volunteer program while also encouraging individuals to share how they're making a difference by #NaturallyHelping.
What is the Immigrant Welcome Center's Natural Helper Volunteer Program?
The Immigrant Welcome Center has often called upon its volunteers to help meet the needs of Indianapolis's immigrant community. Our Natural Helpers volunteer program trains and prepare these volunteers with the information, knowledge of local resources, and support system necessary for them to help other immigrants. Our clients are often immigrant neighbors who are new to the city, have limited English skills, or are simply overwhelmed with adjusting to life in a foreign country and need guidance navigating their new life. Click here to donate and continue supporting our volunteers.
Why has the Natural Helpers Program Become So Crucial to Immigrants During COVID-19?
Our experience as an organization has taught us that most immigrants prefer word-of-mouth referrals and tend to trust organizations and businesses recommended to them by friends and family. Many immigrants also face barriers like limited English proficiency, language access, and limited access to technology. All of these factors makes it incredibly difficult for immigrants to identify COVID-19 assistance. As a result, our Natural Helpers have become even more crucial to our organization’s ability to engage with and assist immigrants.
They have been responsible for carrying our key elements of the IWC's COVID-19 response through on the ground support with immigrant communities in Indianapolis through wellness check calls, data entry, and organizational support. Since March, our Natural Helpers have connected over 300 immigrants families with community resources that provide COVID relief. Many of our Natural Helper volunteers are also uniquely equipped with multilingual skills, which allows them to communicate free of barriers and inform and educate other immigrants in their native languages. This work would not be possible without our committed volunteers.
How Can I Support This Campaign?
To be a Natural Helper you have to go through our training program, but that doesn't mean you aren't already #NaturallyHelping someone in need.
Maybe you're sewing face masks or maybe you've been picking up someone's medications. You might be a volunteer at a food pantry, or maybe you're an essential worker. Whatever your case, we want to uplift the moments where you're embodying the spirit of our Natural Helpers, and making a difference in your community through acts of kindness.
You can share your impact by downloading our #NaturallyHelping social media toolkit. This toolkit provides you with pre-drafted messages and graphics that can be shared across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and LinkedIn. Our goal is to shed light on the power that individual and collective actions have to strengthen our communities.
Three Easy Ways to Participate
1. Follow our social media accounts.
- Facebook @immigrantwelcomecenter
- Instagram @iwcindy
- Linkedin @immigrantwelcomecenter
- Twitter @IWC_Indy
2. Share your story by selecting a graphic and caption from our toolkit an use the hashtags #NaturallyHelping or #NaturalHelper.
3. Donate to our Natural Helpers program so that we can continue providing support to our remarkable volunteers as they help immigrants navigate the pandemic.
