On September 19th, 20+ churches and 150 or so volunteers joined together in Corvallis to put on a free furniture (and other household items) giveaway for international students. We all know how difficult it is to furnish a residence. If you’ve moved abroad for any length of time, you’ll know that it’s ten times harder when you’re working with an unfamiliar currency, in an unfamiliar town, with limited language ability, and without transportation. This event was organized to meet this practical need at the beginning of the school year–and, in this way, introduce many of these new students to the love and hope we’ve found of Jesus.I’ve sifted through the student registration info a bit and want to share some of the numbers with you. Here they are:
- 247 students in total
- 132 males, 112 females, and 3 undetermined
- 182 OSU, 55 INTO, 5 LBCC, 5 undetermined
- 140 (+/-10) have been in the U.S. less than a year
- 169 interested in the Cowboy BBQ (a follow-up event we held on Sunday)
- 191 interested in free lunch (every Wednesday, starting on October 5th)
- 153 interested in conversation partners
- 138 interested in learning more about God and the Bible (+3 Christian students) – 55%!
At least 27 countries were represented, including 125 from China, 22 from India, 20 from Korea, 15 from Taiwan, 8 from Thailand, 7 from Vietnam, 5 from Germany, 5 from Japan, 5 from Iran, 4 from Ghana, 3 from Saudi Arabia, 3 from France, and 2 each from Nepal and Brazil. Other countries represented include Argentina, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, England, Eritrea, Indonesia, Luxemborg, Nigeria, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Sweden!
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[...] least relative to last week’s pace! The week started in Corvallis with a 15-hour day at the 7th annual free furniture giveaway and ended with a “Cowboy BBQ.” In fact, I was in Corvallis most of the week [...]