Wednesday's Woman: Erin Burchik

When Erin Burchik moved to an apartment complex in Lawrenceville, Ga., more than five years ago, she had no idea her world would be forever changed. She has since had a role in changing the lives of hundreds of new American residents.

Burchik, 25, found a passion for helping international residents while still in high school. Her senior year, she helped start an after-school program for international elementary children, and loved it. 

“I continued to be interested in social justice and serving people,” she said, and so she pursued an advanced degree in social work at University of Georgia. 

It was there that she met her husband, Brian, while she was still a freshman in college. They have been married a little more than four years. Brian attended University of Georgia, then Bethel Seminary for his graduate degree.

He now works as the high school pastor at in Snellville, while Erin serves as the local outreach coordinator. They have attended Grace Fellowship  together for almost five years and have been employed there for about four years. 

“When [Brian and I] first got married, we moved into some apartments that had a lot of refugees,” Burchik explained. “I fell in love with all those refugee families.” 

Generation Salaam: When East Meets West
Leaning on her experience with the after-school care of her high school days, Burchik planned and implemented a children's camp at her apartment complex over the summer. The rest of her ministry grew from there. Grace Fellowship already had a similar ministry in place, so when the leadership stepped down, Burchik was honored to fill the spot. 

Generation Salaam (which means “peace” in Arabic) and Peace of Thread are two of the primary outreach programs that Burchik heads up. Generation Salaam focuses on meeting and befriending Muslim immigrants who have been relocated to nearby Clarkston, one of the prime refugee resettlement areas. 

“A lot of the people we work with are Arab speakers,” Burchik said. “The women we work with are mostly Iraqi, Somali, and some now from Nepal.” 

The group of volunteers lead children's mentor programs, English classes for the adults, and whatever else the community needs. They also host events, like this past year's Thanksgiving feast that hosted nearly 300 people. It was the first Thanksgiving most of the refugee families experienced. The number of volunteers involved in the communities range between 50 during the school year to about 200 over the summer. 

“The thing that I really love,” Burchik said, “is seeing people become family. People who start the process of going down to Clarkston as volunteers develop friendships with refugees and really become genuine friends. They make this transition to being family with the refugees.” 

She believes that Grace Fellowship's volunteers break down the stereotypes of what refugees expect Americans to be. Generation Salaam works in four different apartment complexes, and attempts to meet whatever needs the neighborhoods have. 

Peace of Thread: Creating Employment
That's how Peace of Thread came about. Burchik and other volunteers recognized that one thing the refugee women needed was a business opportunity.

According to the Peace of Thread website, it is a “local, nonprofit organization that empowers women who have come to the United States seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty to make a new life for themselves and their families.” 

The idea for this outreach was born when Grace Fellowship member Denise Smith came back from the Middle East after working with a nonprofit for seven years. When she returned, she joined Generation Salaam. Together, they founded Peace of Thread to teach refugee women to sew and create purses and bags. The organization sells the products and returns the money to the women, empowering them to make a better life for themselves and their families. 

Burchik, along with her army of volunteers, hopes to start another business opportunity for the women: a training salon. She also hopes that people will be inspired and passionate enough to move down to Clarkston themselves in order to become fully involved in the lives of America's newest residents. 

A Blessing for the Burchiks
While Burchik watched relationships blossom between Grace Fellowship volunteers and refugee families, she was blessed to have her own family expand.

Before working with Grace Fellowship, Burchik worked for All God's Children, an adoption agency. Through her work, she met a family that needed a foster family for their granddaughter. She and her husband prayed together, and then agreed to take care of then 2-year-old Amyra in July of 2010. By September 2011, Amyra was an official member of the Burchik family.   

Burchik manages to juggle being a new mom and a community organizer with a focus on a group of people who are often overlooked. She is eager to work with new volunteers and can be reached by email at erin@gfc.tv.