By Jim Westhoff
Cape Gazette [1] staff

The international students are starting to arrive, and local leaders want to avoid any of the problems from last year, like traffic accidents, evictions, thefts and students unsure where to turn for help.

When the students arrive from Europe and other places around the globe, religious and business leaders in the Cape Region plan to have an entire program in place to help the students.

“We’re trying to look after their safety in any way we can,” said the Rev. Edward Kovacs of Lutheran Church of Our Savior. Kovacs is one of the many people poised to help this summer.

Under the umbrella of The Rehoboth Beach–Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, groups as diverse as printing companies, police departments and churches have come together to help the international students.

“The churches, the police departments the businesses and area services all had different concerns about getting information to foreign students,” said Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Carol Everhart. “They came to the chamber and asked us to provide the umbrella and the coordination to make that happen. We said yes.”

The group will distribute survival guides, hold orientations, host free meals during the week and even meet the buses when they arrive full of international students.

“What came to the forefront for us was the need to get information for students in what we are calling a survival guide,” Everhart said. The survival guide will clearly explain housing rules, various laws, transportation information, and it will also explain the U.S. banking system so the students will know how to cash their paychecks. The guide has been translated into Russian, Romanian, Polish and Bulgarian.

Kovacs said parishioners throughout the area felt they had to do something. He said it became an issue that members of Lewes-Rehoboth Association of Churches felt they needed to address.

“Members of other churches have had students just show up, late at night, knocking on doors,” he said. “They don’t know where they are; they don’t know where their job is. They don’t know where the hotels are, where they can stay for just one night. They are just dropped here in the middle of the night, and they don’t even know which direction the ocean is. So were trying to fill the gaps.”

Orientation meeting
To help fill the gaps, the organization will hold an international student orientation Wednesday, June 14, at Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. In addition to the survival guides, the orientation will include information from Beebe Medical Center, and local fire and police departments.

Since organization members realize that one big meeting will not solve the problem, they plan to host free meals at area churches four or five times a week.

“We will have it on a rotating basis,” Kovacs said. “Each church will take one night or morning.”

The meals are not only an opportunity for fellowship, they will also give them the opportunity to learn from guest speakers. “We are definitely inviting all of the emergency personnel, the police and business leaders to attend,” said Leslie Inkster from Epworth United Methodist Church. “The relationship with police departments in some of their home countries is not as good as they are here,” she said. “We want to let them know that those people are good and helpful and if they are in trouble, they will be able to help.”

Inkster said the participating churches so far are Epworth United Methodist, Westminster Presbyterian, Lutheran Church of Our Savior, Bethel United Methodist, All Saints’ Episcopal, Lewes Presbyterian, and Groome United Methodist.

Since many of the students travel from home to work on bicycles, the committee is trying to get better bicycles in the hands of the students.

Everhart said some committee members are working to find funding to buy bicycles for the students that are properly outfitted with lights, reflectors and good brakes. She said they also want to provide maintenance of bicycles throughout the summer.

Anyone interested in helping with any of the efforts for the international students is urged to call Everhart at 302-227-2233.