Refuge Bowling Green is a nonprofit organization that assists immigrant and refugee families in Bowling Green with any of their basic needs including clothing, food, shelter, English learning classes and driving school. This non-profit was originally founded by Daniel Tarnagda and his wife Alice Tarnagda, refugees from Burkina Faso.

The Tarnagda’s experienced their own struggles when they first came to the U.S.

“When I got here, I was really struggling,” Daniel Tarnagda said. “I had to bike in the snow to try to find work.”

“It was difficult to try and survive,” Tarnagda explained.

Tarnagda explained how his own struggles formed the start of Refuge BG.

“It all started from there,” Tarnagda said. “We wanted to help people survive who had the same need.”

Tarnagda and his wife were helping so many families, but didn’t have the resources they needed, so they decided to form a nonprofit.

“We opened our doors to help others, but we needed to do something else. We decided to try a nonprofit,” Tarnagda said.

The rest is history now.

A large part of Refuge Bowling Green is their partnership with Teranga Academy, an English learning academy. Through the school, students learn English, and also have the opportunity to participate in a soccer club so that their parents can take English learning classes and have access to the resources they need.

News reporter Bailey Reed can be reached at [email protected].