Parker Family Helps Guatemalan Family Find Their Footing in America

The Fobert Family (right) with the Guatemalan Family they were matched with through WelcomeNST.

By Corey Christiansen, Denver Region Media Specialist

As a former missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Venezuela, Parker’s Tom Fobert recently sought out opportunities to help Venezuelan refugees who were resettling in the Denver area. Having learned Spanish on his mission, Tom offered his services as a translator, but he and his family yearned to do more to help local refugees.

Tom’s wife, Mandi, visited the JustServe website to search for service opportunities and found an organization called WelcomeNST. Mandi said WelcomeNST is “an organization that creates teams of families that want to welcome a refugee into their area and help them acclimate to life here.”

WelcomeNST matched the Foberts with a family from Guatemala. Mandi said the family from Central America was seeking to get away from violence and gangs in their home country and to make a better life in the United States of America. The Foberts helped members of the family find jobs in the Denver area, a place to live and even enrolled their daughter in school.

The Guatemalan family recently moved to Los Angeles to be closer to their extended family, but Mandi said she’s so grateful they were able to meet and serve this family in need. “We have a forever bond with them, and it was a very rewarding experience for our family,” she said.

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