Through JustServe and WelcomeNST, Families Welcome Refugees to Their Communities

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By Mary Richards, Church News

In January 2024, Tom and Mandi Fobert came across a post on JustServe.org about how they could get involved with serving refugee families.

JustServe is a website and app that connects nonprofit and community organizations with volunteers seeking opportunities to serve. The post was from WelcomeNST. NST stands for neighborhood support teams, which are matched with an approved refugee family coming to the United States through legal channels and offering that family the support and welcome they need for the transition.

The Foberts were already involved in helping newcomers to their city of Parker, Colorado, and wanted to do more. After they saw the JustServe post, they connected with WelcomeNST and formed Team Parker.

They were matched with a family in Guatemala that had been granted humanitarian parole status in the U.S. because of the threat to their safety. Within a few short months, Team Parker and the Guatemala family went from being strangers in different countries to speaking on a video call, then hugging at the airport, settling into a new home and becoming friends who will be connected for life.

Mandi Fobert said the mother, Maria, told her about a dream she had where God showed her that her family would come to America and that “a large Christian man and his wife would help them.” Mandi Fobert said her husband Tom is a “large Christian man.”

“Needless to say, now I know why Tom and I were so drawn to this organization and why everything fell into place after we took the leap of faith to accept them, even before we had everything in place,” Mandi Fobert said. “It’s been a humbling and extremely rewarding experience. They have become like family to us.”

The parents are employed, the three children are enjoying school, and they have a new sense of freedom, security and opportunity.

Read this related article from the Church News Colorado refugee resettlement efforts a team effort

In February 2024, Cliff May from Huntsville, Alabama, saw a JustServe post from WelcomeNST about an opportunity to welcome a refugee family. May is a veteran who had served in Afghanistan and wanted to help an Afghan family in need of refuge. He filled out an application with WelcomeNST and formed a neighborhood support team named Team Huntsville.

After a few months, May’s team welcomed a family of six refugees to the U.S. from Afghanistan.

“The impact of leading an NST on me – and my family – has been enormous,” May said. “It’s been tremendously rewarding to watch the family we welcomed progress and succeed, like receiving their first paycheck, going to school, learning English and more. Our kids have been a part of this process, too, which has been invaluable in teaching them about the world.”

‘Welcoming the Stranger’

Elizabeth Davis-Edwards — who had worked in the realm of refugee support for years — formed WelcomeNST in August 2021 in response to the massive evacuation of refugees from Afghanistan.

“That kicked off this tidal wave of incredible humans stepping up from all over the place,” she said. “We literally couldn’t keep up with how many people wanted to help.”

Since then, the privately funded and community-led organization has helped marshal 4,000 volunteers to support the resettlement of 1,000 refugees across 35 states.

The approved refugees from several countries come through proper legal channels. For example, in March 2025, the legal pathway for Afghan allies to get to the United States is through a high level of vetting before receiving a Special Immigrant Visa.

Most of the WelcomeNST volunteers are people of faith, Davis-Edwards said. They come from a variety of backgrounds, with the common ground of being committed to “welcoming the stranger.”

Read this related article from the Church News Elder Patrick Kearon: ‘Refuge from the Storm’

“We make global challenges local,” she said. “You can help a family, and that is how we collectively can have a global impact. If thousands of people step up and say, ‘I can make room to help a family, I can welcome the stranger,’ that’s how God’s work gets done.”

The JustServe platform has been instrumental in helping volunteers find WelcomeNST, Davis-Edwards said. “It’s definitely been an incredible tool for what I would call the work of God — connecting His people.”

To those considering getting involved with WelcomeNST, “I encourage you to take the leap,” May said. “It is worthwhile. You will be a blessing in someone else’s life, and they will be a blessing in yours.”

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