Refugee Support Services is a 501(c)(3) organization leveraging the power of community to help program participants—including refugees, asylees, and other displaced people with legal status—resettle the Charlotte, North Carolina area. We work closely with individuals and families to obtain housing, employment, translation services, healthcare, citizenship, and ultimately foster connection within our community so they can restart their lives here with confidence.
In addition, we design and host programs, like Fruitful Friends and our Knit Together Group, to cultivate community amongst local families. We operate an easy-to-access Help Desk for all who need direct assistance with things like deciphering bills and scheduling appointments. And each week, we host a free food market that feeds dozens of families in need.
RSS is the only post-resettlement agency in the greater Charlotte area. We help displaced people find a productive, comfortable, loving “fit” through programs that help build the bridges between new arrivals from foreign lands, and our longstanding Charlotte neighbors.
Executive Director
Lindsay LaPlante (she/her)
Youth Education Programs Coordinator
Anne Banks (she/her)
Food & Community Info Programs Coordinator
Jonathan Lee (he/him)
Help Desk Coordinator
Pamela Dellinger (she/her)
Language and Community Access Coordinator
Sadaf Alemi (she/her)
Mentor Programs Specialist
Faisal Saighani (he/him)
Help Desk Specialist and Adult Education Coordinator
Julie Mikhachova (she/her)
Eligibility Certification Specialist
Kyla Fink (she/her)
Youth Education Program Specialist
Mariam Merzaee (she/her)
Help Desk Specialist
Marwah Alemi (she/her)
Volunteer Intake Specialist
Meighan Lopez (she/her)
Workforce & Artisan Program Coordinator
Jessica Rayburn (she/her)
Food & Community Info Programs Specialist
Naimullah Safi (he/him)
Mentor Programs Coordinator
Esther Schmidt (she/her)
Adult ESL Instructor
Don Valcovic (he/him)
Adult ESL Instructor
Valeh Abbasi (he/him)
Chair
Tom Hunley (he/him)
Secretary
Emily Cantrell (she/her)
Treasurer
Clare Wesley (she/her)
Riaz Bhamani (he/him)
Barry Fenwick (he/him)
Victoria Olszowy (she/her)
Huy Vu (he/him)
Noah Pollack (he/him)
In the spring of 2006, Rachel Humphries was teaching English for CPCC with a group of Montagnard refugees at an apartment complex in East Charlotte. After months of listening and learning, Rachel and her volunteer, Lauren Moore, immersed themselves in Charlotte’s broader refugee community. They started connecting resettled refugees with locals who could help find jobs, housing, transportation, and—ultimately—meaningful friendships. As their network continued to grow, they made it official.
Refugee Support Services was founded later that year in 2006. It has since continued to grow and evolve, facilitating rich relationships between refugees, asylees, humanitarian parolees, special immigrant visa holders, their families, and the Charlotte community through many successful programs. RSS assists with transportation, housing, and employment, all while building meaningful and lasting friendships. Today we oversee four defined programs, serve as a hub spoking to nearly 100 local organizations, and are working towards deploying over $2M annually to support almost 1,000 program participants in 2024.
2006
Rachel Humphries and Lauren Moore start RSS to support refugees in the Charlotte area.
2009
RSS begins operating out of the Shadowood Apartment Office in East Charlotte before eventually moving into a one-bedroom apartment in the same complex.
2009
RSS establishes a partnership with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library to facilitate weekly joint programming in the Love & Learn Program, which continues to this day!
2010
A second temporary Help Desk program is started on Thursdays at a home on Helena Street. The Taste of Home program is also started in collaboration with Mecklenburg County Parks & Recreation.
2012
Another temporary Help Desk program is started on Saturdays at Albemarle Rd. Presbyterian Church and runs for just over 2 years.
2015
RSS moves in as a founding partner at the Galilee Center on Central Ave.
2020
RSS expands food and supplies provision in the face of the COVID pandemic and most other support programming is shifted online. The Food & Community Information Program, the Park & Pick Market, and the RSS Helpline start as a result.
2022
RSS changes location and moves into the Aldersgate campus to share a building with collaborators ourBRIDGE for Kids.
2022
RSS updates its brand with a new logo and tagline informed by the community that makes up the organization in partnership with Mad Goat Studio.
2023
RSS launches a new website!
Insta Highlights
Follow along @welcome.to.rss for all things RSS and @ktgrss to see the latest from our popular Knit Together Group!
