This post is from a guest blogger, Bree DeGraw, who is I-Squared’s Social Committee Co-chair.

Since I moved to St. Louis almost 10 months ago, the main thing which has impressed me the most are the number of non-profits and their involvement with the community. The one with which I had the most interest right from the start is the International Institute of St. Louis. I was introduced to the Institute by one of my first friends in the city, who happened to be from the Czech Republic. We attended Immigration 101 where I met many other wonderful people who I now consider to be close friends. What I learned that night opened my eyes immensely.  

Immediately after attending Immigration 101, I became involved with the Young Friends Group of the Institute. I jumped right in by helping on an immigrant fishing field trip. I met people from around the world and by far it has been one of my favorite lifetime experiences.  

Last week, I was able to help out at the Institute’s annual Thanksgiving Dinner for immigrants and their families. 

Seeing the faces of these new Americans and their joy as they expressed the phrase “Happy Thanksgiving” to one another got me thinking. Why are we not as thankful as these people? Why do we not appreciate our freedoms as they do? 

Through these experiences and in the interactions I have had with the immigrants I see a whole new side to immigration, their side. I doubt I will ever have to hide in a bunker below my house while missiles are exploding overhead, or be walking to the store and as I top the next hill here rolls a tank, or be sent away from my home at a tender age because my parents want to protect me from war and invest in my future and perhaps even be told to “never return”.  

Some people think they are coming here to steal our jobs, ruin our schools, ruin our economy, and raise crime rates in our cities. But for the most part, these people undergo a very lengthy process to enter our country because they are fleeing the persecution they are facing in their “home”. Some have lost their families, some have lost their dignity, and others are trying to find something better to “invest in their future”.  

Get involved, support immigrant owned businesses, experience other cultures, and meet immigrants.