MSC FLI’s Annual Donation Drive Benefits Houston’s Burmese Refugee Community

For the past three years, MSC Freshman LeadershipInternational (FLI) has developed a relationship with Life Cycles, (or on facebook) a non-profit organization in Houston that helps refugees build new lives in the Bayou City. In previous years FLI members have conducted a bicycle drive, collecting used bicycles and bicycle parts, which they then delivered to Life Cycles founder Jeremy Howell. With the help of some of the members of the Burmese refugee community, Howell would repair the bicycles and distribute them to community members. 

The bikes are important, says Alex Heinze ’16, Assistant Director of FLI’s International Service and Outreach subcommittee, because the refugees would use the bikes to get them to and from work. “They can barely afford food, much less buying a car,” she says. When a member of the community receives a bicycle from Life Cycles, she says that means “either the kids can get to school or the parents can get to their jobs in a way that isn’t economically expensive.”  The refugees, Heinze says, “want to be successful, and they want to support their families. They’re using these bikes to support themselves.”

Heinze says that as a freshman last year she was moved by the refugees’ stories of the persecution and violence they had left behind. For example, she recounts the trials of Kai, a Burmese refugee that Howell and his wife, Laurie Stone-Howell, who Heinze says is really “the soul of Life Cycles,” adopted.  She says that Kai and his brother had been forced to join the national army as pre-teens. When Kai and his brother escaped the army and returned to their village, the villagers expelled them out of fear of retribution from the army if they took the two boys in.


“So Kai and his brother were just on their own,” Heinze says, “and had to avoid getting caught again. Eventually Kai got separated from his brother.” Eventually he made his way to the United States and has found a loving home.  Heinze adds that “this is a mild story compared to some of the other stories I’ve heard from refugees.”

Alex Heinze '16

She was also moved, however, by the trials and tribulations they face once they arrive here in the United States. “They come over here without any skills, because most of them, especially the younger ones, they’ve grown up in a refugee camp. And the thing about refugee camps is you don’t get schooling, you don’t have a job.  You have very, very few skills when you come over here,” she says.

To further complicate matters, Heinze says that the refugees “come to the United States with very, very little. And what happens is, the government says, ‘Here is where you’re going to live.  This is what you have to have in your apartment.  This is the living standard that you have to maintain.  You have to pay this money back in a certain amount of time.’  And if they don’t then they either have to leave the country or they have other consequences.”

Despite the tremendous obstacles they must overcome to build a life here, Heinze says that “just hearing their hope and hearing how much they like being here even though they’re so disadvantaged makes me passionate about this work. I just can’t imagine having the hope that they do after what they’ve been through.”

Although initially FLI’s relationship with Life Cycles was focused on collecting bicycles, Heinze says that they have shifted their focus slightly for this year’s Life Cycles donation drive.  “I’ve gotten so passionate about this mission to know that they need more than bicycles.” In late fall she and the four freshmen in her group took two carloads of donated clothes to Houston.  “When we went down to see them the kids didn’t have socks, and it’s cold, and they’re from a part of the world that doesn’t have cold weather like we can have here.” So this spring, at Howell’s urging, FLI members have decided to focus all of their energy on collecting more clothes and household items instead of bicycles.

On Saturday, April 26, about forty FLI members will travel to Houston to deliver the donated materials, and they will spend the afternoon picnicking and playing in the park with the children. “We’ll do things that the kids don’t get to do as much,” Heinze says. “Some of the kids are our age and Kai, Jeremy’s son, speaks English really well so he’ll help us talk to these kids.  And that’s pretty cool because they’re our age, but they have such a different experience from ours, so it’s great to communicate with them.”

Heinze says that the Life Cycles project is a lot of work, but that “It’s my favorite project and that’s why I’m here.” She says that not only do the refugees inspire her with their hope in the face of great adversity, but she is also inspired by the Howell’s, who have devoted much of their lives to helping the Burmese refugee community. “It’s cool helping people like that because you know that they appreciate it so much.”

The inspiration, it turns out, runs both ways though.  In fall Heinze and her group got testimonials from many of the community elders, and “one of the elders said that ‘because of you guys my youngest son is now considering college.’ To hear that put everything in perspective, knowing that what we’re doing is so important to them,” she says.

“To know that just by donating bikes and going down once a year and playing with them can impact someone’s decision about going to college.  It just proves that what we’re doing matters to them and the more we can help the more it will impact their lives and help shape their futures.”

FLI is collecting donations through Friday, April 25.  Items can be dropped off at the FLI table outside the MSC from 10am-4pm daily. There will also be a collection box in the MSC student programs office in suite 2240. Hours are 9am-6pm Monday through Friday. For larger items or to make arrangements to pick items up, contact Libby VanHouten at libby_van13@tamu.edu or call 325-338-7711.  Items most needed include:

• Towels
• Linens
• Pillows
• Blankets
• Kitchen utensils
• Plates/cups
• Cookware
• Cleaning supplies
• Furniture
• Tables
• Lamps
• Clocks
• Rugs
• Chairs
• Couches
• Toiletries
• Clothes (especially smaller adult sizes)
• Baby clothing and supplies
• Shoes