Forai Employs and Empowers Refugees and Immigrants Through Its St. Louis-Based Shop

When Jen Owens opened her door to two refugee families for Thanksgiving dinner in 2008, little did she realize where that open door would lead.

“Around our table sat some of the most recent Nepali-Bhutanese asylees, full of hope for a new and better life,” Owens remembers. “Yet despite their glowing hope, I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘What would life realistically look like for a widow with two school-aged children, no English and little formal education?’”