Love World and Welcome House impact Knoxville and world for Christ

Meeting needs in times of crisis

Since opening Welcome House’s doors, “we’ve had several single moms, mostly from Africa, with toddlers,” Hood said. Most recently, they hosted the refugee family of seven from Iraq whose rental home was destroyed last summer in a house fire.

Volunteers from Welcome House, Love World and KIN all came together to help meet that family’s urgent need in the midst of crisis.

“At supper time, they were cooking. The mom stepped out of the kitchen and when she came back in the kitchen was on fire,” Hood recounted. “It was too much for them to put out themselves and so they just really escaped with what they were wearing. They had a few trash bags of just some things they grabbed, but most things they lost in the fire.”

After the family spent a sleepless night in a local business where the father works, KIN’s director put them in contact with Welcome House and “they were able to spend their second night at Welcome House,” Hood said. “We put out on our Facebook page what their story was and we had churches, individuals give through our website and we were able to give them gift cards. A volunteer took them shopping to buy clothing, shoes, personal necessities.”

The Iraqi father “asked me several times, ‘Is this safe? Will this be safe for my family?’” she recalled. “I assured him that yes, it was going to be very safe and that Sunny would be taking care of them – and he has.

“We are a ministry that wants to show the love of Jesus through Christian hospitality,” Hood emphasized. “However, we don’t require that someone is a Christian to live in the house. But we also are very willing to tell them why we’re helping them. … I feel like the best I can do is be the hands and feet of Christ in a very practical way.

“When I got the call about the Iraqi family, they needed to move in the next day,” Hood said. “So I got in contact with Kimberly Poore and she made a couple of phone calls and she and another woman were able to meet me and my family – my husband and daughter – and Sunny at the house and we just went through and cleaned the house super quick.”

When refugees or other international guests move into Welcome House, “I want it to feel like you’re at a friend’s house and you can relax,” Hood said. “There’s food in the refrigerator, there’s clean towels, clean sheets. You don’t have to really think about taking care of yourself for a few hours or a few days. You can just exhale.”

Equipping and educating volunteers

Jani Whaley, executive director of Knoxville Internationals Network, said her group’s goal “is to reach the internationals through the churches by equipping and educating church members and small groups so that relationships can be built and the gospel message can be given.”

With a database of 300 volunteers, she said KIN often helps “find volunteers for the Welcome House as far as cleaning and getting supplies.”

Recalling the night of the house fire, Whaley said the Iraqi family had been living “just down the street from where I live personally. I saw the fire trucks; I saw the fire and I didn’t even realize that there was a refugee family that lived in that house. It was just a few hours later I got a call stating a refugee’s house just burned down and there’s five children involved.”

As a former short-term missionary to the Middle East, Whaley said, “I have a heart for all internationals, but there’s something special about those Middle Eastern people that just really tugs at my heartstrings.”

After connecting with the family’s teenage daughter who speaks English, “I went over there within the hour and met the family and talked to the father and met all the children and developed a friendship right then and there,” Whaley said. The next day, “I went over to their house personally and loaded them up in my car and just picked through the rubble of their house. We took them to the Welcome House and got them situated.”