In partnership with our communities, we help provide opportunities for adults and children to obtain basic human and social needs as well as assistance with challenges facing immigrants. The International Friendship Center was founded by the Missions Committee of the First Presbyterian Church and the Outreach Committee of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, along with their church leadership,
in 2002. Both congregations felt strongly that our community’s immigrant workers faced many access barriers to healthcare, legal assistance, banking, housing, schooling, etc., so the IFC focused on providing services and on bridging the gaps to those services. Years later, a group felt a need for a food pantry to serve immigrants and locals; as a nonsectarian fiscal agent or sponsor was needed, the IFC was asked to become the umbrella organization for the Highlands Food Pantry. The IFC continued to offer social services and translation services, and to work closely with the Highlands United Methodist Church as partners in the Highlands Food Pantry. In late 2019, the IFC focused on capacity building, new social services, advocacy and programming. This led in turn to a search for a new executive director in late spring of 2020. The IFC continues to focus on capacity building, services, programming and on thoughtful responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
