CWS’s mission is to transform communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster. Our office in Walnut Creek helps refugees resettle, form long-lasting relationships in the community and maintain their own basic needs in a sustainable lifestyle. Our office serves as a bridge from their former life in their home country to a new set of cultural, linguistic, and practical skills that enables them to be successful in Northern California. CWS NorCal operates several programs to serve the vulnerable population, including unaccompanied children who mostly come through the southern border, and refugees, immigrants, and asylee families and individuals as well as trafficking victims. Church World Service was born in the wake of the devastation of World War II. Seventeen Christian denominations came together “to do in partnership what none of us could hope to do as well alone.” In our early days, the CWS family mobilized more than 11 million pounds of food, clothing and medical supplies for war-torn Europe and Asia. In the United States, we began to welcome refugees who were looking to start new lives in safety, resettling more than 100,000 refugees in our first 10 years. Over the decades, the specifics of our programs have shifted and evolved. The CWS family has grown. And our foundation of collaboration and welcome has remained unshakable. We proudly serve as the toolbox that our neighbors near and far use to build healthy, dignified and safe lives.