Steve's Story: Helping an Afghan Family Navigate Disaster
Please enjoy this story, shared by longtime refugee advocate Steve Baroch. This narrative illustrates the profound impact of compassionate, long-term support after a devastating apartment fire displaced an Afghan refugee family. Through partnership, persistence, and a commitment to walking alongside survivors for as long as needed, Our Front Porch, along with our extended community of supporters, helped transform a moment of crisis into a pathway toward recovery and hope.
I was returning home from getting our takeout Friday dinner when I got the call. “Grandpa. Our home is burning.” My adopted Afghan family was calling with this tragic news. In my head, I was trying to remain calm. I don’t know if it was coming across that way. I asked my “Grandson” if the family was out of the apartment. Yes, everybody was outside along with dozens of other apartment tenants. No. Nobody was injured. But, their building was on fire and flames were leaping out of the apartment next to theirs and moving fast. What a tragedy!! I immediately turned and fought against the Friday evening traffic toward their home in Aurora.
This family had already had many more tragedies than should ever be heaped on anyone. They had been in the US for only a year. The dad of the family had worked in Afghanistan for the US Government. They were targeted by the Taliban after the fall and had to go on the run moving from farmhouse to farmhouse for months before they could be extracted by the US government. Then, they spent 6 months in the Refugee camp in Qatar before they were resettled in Colorado.
I met them when they came to the US. I have worked with refugees for years helping them get settled, originally through my Rotary Club and then simply through word of mouth from one refugee to another. As they arrived, someone from their home country would say, if you need help, call this guy. He might be able to help. (I do have to say that I received some impossible requests. “No, I cannot get your family out of your home country.”) My value was in finding donations of furniture, computers and clothes and then putting the people in touch with agencies that could help them further. In some cases, I have helped people apply for colleges or look for jobs.
This family consists of the parents in their 40’s and their 19-year-old son and 4 daughters ages 2 through 15. The son spoke English well when they arrived and had done translation work in the refugee camp in Qatar. He speaks 5 languages. The rest of the family spoke almost no English when they arrived.
And now, on this Friday evening, I found my Afghan family huddled on the grass outside of their apartment. The apartment was now a smoldering muddle of burned furniture, clothing, and dreams. There were dozens of others on the lawn watching the firefighters mopping up. I chatted with one of the fire officials and he told me that “unofficially” the cause was an electrical fault in the ceiling of the building next door.
Unless one had been in this situation before, how would you know what to do? Fortunately, because of their past experience and because they had been in a fire IN Afghanistan a couple of years before their extraction, Mama had the foresight to have a “Go Bag” by the door with all of their documents in it! What a blessing! I had no idea what to do and we had to think fast. I decided that only thing to do now was get the family into a motel. I drove them, in waves because we could not fit them all at once, and checked them into 2 rooms in a local motel. (Sadly, I could not help everybody that became homeless that night. It was painful to think about what the rest of the families were going to do! But, I realized that I had to concentrate on what I could do.)
After we got everyone in to their rooms, I took Mama and son to the local Walmart to get overnight supplies. The next day, I returned early in the morning and made sure they all had breakfast and Dad, Mama and son and I went back to the complex. Fortunately, Red Cross was there. They helped with some supplies and gift cards. They also gave us contact information for an organization I had never heard of called “Our Front Porch”. On Monday morning, I got in touch with Our Front Porch and had immediate response. They went to work right away for my family, setting up a plan, figuring out what needs were, looking for a new apartment, making sure they had supplies, socks, toiletries etc. Our Front Porch was an incredible asset. They helped make sure ID’s were sorted out. They helped get the family into a new apartment. They provided a contact for counseling in the family’s native language. They helped figure out where the new schools were going to be and helped register the kids. The new apartment was much nicer that their previous apartment.
The family is doing great now - 2 years later. Dad has 3 years of work experience in the US. Son also has 3 years of work experience and has completed 2 years of college. The oldest daughter just graduated high school and just last week got her driver’s permit. Mom has taken classes in English and has a network of Afghan friends. Daughters 2 and 3 have won awards in school and are doing well. The “Baby” turns 4 next month.
Our Front Porch, still, two years later, is helping the family. The family just called recently to ask for clarification of some insurance information. And, they helped with some information on medical colleges for the son.
I learned that Our Front Porch works across Colorado, Missouri and Arkansas. They are unique. There is no other organization like them. Their emphasis is on “Stabilization” – making sure that individuals and families get their feet back under them after any kind of disaster – fire, flood, tornado – anything. There is a path. As an individual, I would not have know how to help the family navigate through this. Our Front Porch knows.
At Our Front Porch, our mission is to guide families through recovery after a disaster. But that journey is made infinitely easier when a family has a champion like Steve in their corner.
We want to send a huge shout-out to Steve for his unwavering commitment to kindness, community, and for stepping up exactly when people need it most. From providing immediate safety on the night of the fire to helping us navigate their long-term recovery, Steve has been an incredible partner.
We have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside him and his wonderful, resilient adopted Afghan family over the last two years. Thank you, Steve, for showing us all what it truly means to be a neighbor!
With gratitude,
The Our Front Porch Team