Jan. 4—A driving simulator provided by last spring’s Joplin Interfaith Coalition bake sale has been providing refugees with driving training, an important step to acclimating to their new home.

The Joplin Interfaith Coalition held its annual bake sale in March. Each year, the coalition chooses a local organization to benefit from the sale. This year, it selected RAISE — Refugee and Immigrant Services and Education. RAISE hoped to put the money toward something that would help all incoming refugees.

“For a small city like Joplin, it’s very important to learn how to drive,” said Sahar Elsayed, Joplin Interfaith Coalition steering committee member and vice president of the Islamic Society of Joplin. “It was hard for them to teach all the new people how to drive because of the unavailability of vehicles and trainers. They found that getting a simulator would be very helpful.”

The bake sale raised more than $10,000, and following the sale, people continued to donate. Because of these efforts, RAISE was able to purchase the simulator in September.

The bake sale included members of the Islamic Society of Joplin, the United Hebrew Congregation of Joplin, South Joplin Christian Church, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, local bakeries and dishes from RAISE’s refugee families.

Elsayed said the community response to the bake sale was tremendous.

“We were expecting 100 or maybe 200 people,” Elsayed said. “But the parking lot was packed for three hours. Three hundred prepared meals were sold out, so we definitely had more than 300 people.”

Started in 2017

RAISE started in Noel in 2017, working with adult ESL students. It branched out to help immigrants and refugees through programs like Mommy and Me classes, a community garden and international eat togethers, said Eddie Gonzalez, development director for RAISE.

It expanded again into Joplin during the 2021 Afghanistan evacuation to help refugees settle in the area. RAISE started out helping 50 people settle in the area. Then came a challenge of helping another 100 people in a month.

“The city came together, mostly a lot of churches, that opened their hearts and served,” Gonzalez said. “They were able to welcome these families with everything from getting their houses set up, to transporting them to appointments, really just being a family to these families who were arriving.”

Now RAISE is an official resettlement site through Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services. This year, it received 88 people from all over the world.

One of RAISE’s big needs is teaching people how to drive, especially with a lack of public transportation in Joplin, Gonzalez said. The Joplin Interfaith Coalition’s bake sale was a great opportunity to raise funds for the simulator, which is a sustainable model and safer way to teach people to drive. Some families have driven in their home countries; for others, it’s their first time behind the wheel.

“The driving simulator has been a huge blessing because it builds confidence in all of our student drivers,” Gonzalez said. “It helps them to learn the rules and get used to what they’re going to see on the road.”

Since September, 32 of the people RAISE assisted have been issued driver’s permits and five have obtained a driver’s license. The service is provided free to its clients.

Gaining confidence

The device simulates all sorts of driving and weather conditions, Gonzalez said. It prepares people for the road and all of the incidents they might encounter. After working with the simulator, students are better prepared to drive RAISE’s training vehicles on the road, he said.

“This is something that you see when they get behind the wheel, and initially they’re so apprehensive,” Gonzalez said. “But they also realize the risk level is low. So once they start gaining confidence, you can see them just lighten up and then begin asking for time with the real car.”

The simulator cost around $15,000, most of which was covered from the bake sale and subsequent donations.

Elsayed recently got to see and even try the driving simulator at RAISE. She said it’s realistic and a helpful way to learn to drive. She was impressed by how patient RAISE teachers were with students learning on the simulator. The RAISE staff is putting a lot of effort into getting the refugees comfortable with driving, she observed.

“I felt so happy we were able to come together and meet our goal,” Elsayed said. “We are setting an example that people can coexist, work together and do something beautiful. I hope we can keep this good work going.”

For Gonzalez, it was an powerful experience seeing the unity of the coalition working for a goal through the bake sale.

“We have been so thankful for the Interfaith Coalition,” Gonzalez said. “They showed us they can come together, even though they come from different faith backgrounds, in unity for a project. But they also showed a great example for our clients, who come from different countries where they don’t see those types of collaborations between different faith groups. It was a bigger deal than just the simulator.”

Gonzalez is looking forward to continuing the collaboration with the Joplin Interfaith Coalition as RAISE anticipates receiving between 150 and 200 individuals over the next year, with similar numbers in 2025.

This year’s Joplin Interfaith Coalition bake sale will be held March 2 at the Islamic Society of Joplin. Proceeds will go toward Bright Futures Joplin.

The coalition is also planning a discussion panel on diversity and inclusion in public education at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the United Hebrew Congregation of Joplin. Speakers will be from the Joplin School District and Missouri Southern State University, sharing their experiences and hearing from audiences.