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Donation keeps doors open for Lincoln refugee program

lutheran-family-servicesLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s largest refugee resettlement program will be able to keep its Lincoln and Omaha doors open thanks to a donation by a couple who advocates for refugees.

The donation by Donna and Coyner Smith will sustain Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska offices there for at least another year.

The Smiths say their compassion grew after hosting five years ago a teenager whose mother, a doctor from Afghanistan, was dying of cancer. While Leemah Nasrati was born in the U.S., she says four of her relatives were refugees after fleeing Afghanistan in the 1990s.

The couple donated the undisclosed amount after reading about the program’s cutbacks, which were triggered in February by President Donald Trump’s limitations on how many refugees can enter the country.

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