Thrive International offers housing, resettlement support for Ukrainian refugees

Thrive International offers housing, resettlement support for Ukrainian refugees

Former Quality Inn supports 200 individuals; workers connect refugees to other community resources

By Emma Ledbetter

This news story was made possible by contributions to FāVS from readers and members like you. Thank you.

Spokane-based nonprofit Thrive International was founded less than three weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking one of the largest refugee crises in the world — prompting the organization to pivot to focus on the thousands of displaced Ukrainians entering Spokane. 

“Right as we were getting off the ground, that crisis was spilling over into our community, so it only made sense that we would take that on as a primary focus of what we do at Thrive,” said Thrive Executive Director Mark Finney.

An early partnership with the Ukrainian Relief Coalition, an organization of local Slavic churches supporting Ukrainians, allowed Thrive International to receive $1 million of funding from the Washington Department of Commerce for resettlement work, said Boris Borisov, Pacific Keep Church lead pastor and Ukrainian Relief Coalition member. With this funding, they have provided housing for about 200 individuals — with more expected in the coming months. 

Tackling the housing crisis

With the funding from the Department of Commerce, Thrive is leasing the former Quality Inn to provide housing for Ukrainian refugees. The Ukrainian Relief Coalition sent out a form for refugees to apply to live in the facility, known as the Thrive Center, and almost immediately received about 80 requests, Borisov said. 

“Most of these Ukrainian refugees were doubling up with their friends and family. That’ll keep you off the streets, but it can be pretty stressful,” Finney said. “For us to be able to create this housing, allow people to have their own space, and take some of the burden off the folks who are hosting them — it seems like a huge win for everybody.”

Spokane’s pre-existing housing crisis creates a serious problem for immigrants settling in the area because they often lack rental or credit history, Finney said. Even though housing is critical to survival, few federal organizations and grants tackle this issue.

After the initial wave of refugees arriving in early summer, there are fewer people moving into the Thrive Center. However, the Ukrainian Relief Coalition monitors people coming to Spokane to make sure there is space available for them, Borisov said.

Part of a larger puzzle

Thrive International is faith-friendly, meaning it does not subscribe to a specific religion, but instead encourages people to cultivate their personal faith, Finney said. The organization is partnered with a number of local faith-based organizations, including the churches comprising the Ukrainian Relief Coalition, to provide spiritual support. 

Pacific Keep Church used the conference room at the Thrive Center for Sunday services while the congregation moved church buildings, Borisov said. This allowed people staying in the building to access church services in their native language. 

“Even though we all speak English, a lot of us still speak Russian and Ukrainian, so we’ve been able to provide services in both,” he said. “It’s almost like therapy, in a way, because it’s important to be around people who understand your language and culture as well as the local Spokane community.”

In addition to spiritual partnerships, Thrive partners with refugee resettlement agencies like World Relief and the International Resettlement Committee, as well as various medical and social organizations in the Spokane area, Finney said. 

Thrive does not provide trauma counseling or other social services, but workers will connect refugees with the appropriate programs, he said. This ensures refugees receive adequate support, and workers do not take on more than they can handle.

Surviving becomes thriving

Thrive International’s name is the key to its mission; the organization’s goal is to empower multicultural communities not just to survive, but to thrive. Even though the nonprofit is not a faith-based organization, the idea of thriving comes from a Bible passage in Jeremiah 29, Finney said. 

When people move to a new place, they shouldn’t languish there, he said. Instead, they should seek prosperity — thrive — in the community they find themselves in by building homes, planting gardens, getting married and having children. 

“That vision translates to the contemporary refugee crisis around the world,” Finney said. “Refugees are a huge asset to our community in a lot of ways. They start businesses, bring new cultures and new ideas, and they enrich our community in many ways. As our new immigrants thrive, that contributes to the thriving of the community.”

Finney said there are five areas that are markers of thriving: helping people socially, emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually. If Thrive International is supporting people in each of these areas, it is meeting its goals. 

The human spirit

Finney said the best part of working with refugees is the stories he gets to hear and participate in. 

One young man arrived at the Thrive Center after living in Estonia for several months. He and his girlfriend both fled Mariupol, a city in Ukraine that was under siege during the war. He had been trying to catch up to his girlfriend and her family so he could propose to her, but they kept missing each other.

“At one point, he arrived at the same place they were — 25 minutes after they had left,” Finney said. “Finally, the night he arrived [in Spokane], he said, ‘I’m not going to wait at all, I’m just going to propose. I want to get down on one knee as soon as I walk in the door.’”

He contacted the desk manager at the Thrive Center, who purchased roses and balloons so he could propose as soon as he arrived from the airport. His girlfriend said yes.

“Not only was it special to be there for that moment, but it inspires me — the resilience of the human spirit,” Finney said. “These are people who don’t have a home anymore, they’re from a town that has been destroyed by a war. Yet their commitment to each other, and their future, and to love, is enough that even if they end up on the other side of the planet in a city they’ve never heard of before, they’re still going to find a way to move on with their lives and thrive.”

This news story was made possible by contributions to FāVS from readers and members like you. Thank you.