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Welcoming Through Service

Global Refuge Staff

October 1, 2025

Susan Lyke’s commitment to welcoming refugees has grown out of a lifetime of experience. She’s lived in countries like Macedonia and Pakistan, where daily life was far less secure than in the U.S., and has seen firsthand the kinds of hardship—war, poverty, persecution—that force people to flee their homes.

“Many people don’t come to the U.S. by choice, but because staying in their home countries simply isn’t safe,” says Susan, a Global Refuge donor since 2015. “My faith compels me and has shaped me to believe that where I live, there’s room for others.”

Susan channels that belief into action through her role as a Global Refuge Ambassador. Living near our Baltimore headquarters, she has volunteered in the Welcome Center serving as its very own Volunteer Coordinator, supported administrative tasks, called fellow donors to thank them, and represented Global Refuge at local events.

“I believe strongly in Global Refuge’s commitment to welcome, and it’s important to me that our nation be a place of refuge,” she says.

For Susan, welcome is something you live out through everyday actions. “Welcome means making room for someone else, inviting them into your life, and accompanying them respectfully as they navigate the realities, challenges, and joys of a very new place,” she says. “Genuine welcome changes everybody involved as we learn from one another.”

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