SOUTHERN COLORADO — Good morning southern Colorado and here's what you need to know on your Tuesday, November 16.
If you'd like to read the full story, be sure to click on the story headline.
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KOAA is helping to welcome Afghan refugees to our community
Welcoming refugees into our community isn't new for Colorado Springs
We caught up with Mayor John Suthers who remembered, as a child, his parish, St. Paul Catholic Church, adopting and rallying around a refugee family in the 70's after the fall of Saigon.
He said, "I just think it's a wonderful opportunity for our community to show the compassion that these people need at this point in time, and I think history shows that it can be of tremendous benefit not only to them but to our communities."
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How Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains provides for refugees
Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains has a lot of experience helping refugees, but since Colorado Springs is expecting over 100 refugees, the non-profit could use extra funds to help.
Right now, finding independent, affordable housing in Colorado Springs is a big task those at Lutheran Family Services are hoping to provide for the refugees settling in our city.
Lutheran Family Services is also looking to collect furniture and household goods for the refugees.
That includes twin, full or queen beds, dressers, small couches, dining tables, lamps, kitchen items like dishes, silverware, and pots and pans, and linens or other small household items like vacuum cleaners.
You can call Lutheran Family Services at (719) 227-7571 to schedule a pick up or drop off.
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Former Vietnamese refugee encourages kindness and generosity toward Afghan refugees
A Colorado Springs dermatologist will be matching up to $100,000 raised by the News5 telethon today for Afghan refugees.
For Doctor 'Vin' Chung that decision was personal. His family fled Vietnam a few years after Saigon fell, and was rescued while drifting in the South China Sea by a religious, humanitarian organization.
Dr. Chung's family eventually ended up in Arkansas, thanks to a small Lutheran church sponsoring them. Even though they didn't speak the same language, he says his family instantly felt welcomed in America, and the community gave them what they needed to settle in.
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Local advocates call attention to homeless youth cases in the Springs
November is National Homeless Youth Awareness month, and homeless advocates in Colorado Springs say there needs to be more attention on the stories of people who are pushed out of their home, the same way urgency is placed on those who go missing.
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Windy and dry today with daytime Red Flag Warnings
Get your latest First Alert 5 Weather forecast
The weather pattern gets a lot more active over the next 48 hours with gusty winds and high fire danger today followed by very cold air tomorrow!
Red Flag Warnings are in effect along I-25 and west into the mountains and valleys from the late morning through the end of the day. Wind gusts will be between 30 to 45 mph, and we'll see relative humidity values drop into the low teens. If a fire were to catch today, it could spread quickly in these conditions.
A strong cold front will move across the plains tonight just after midnight. This front will bring gusty winds and very cold air. High temperatures on Wednesday are set to be in the 40s and 30s across the plains with temperatures Thursday morning in the teens.
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