LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Mission Statement:
Empowering Refugees Through Food, Resources, and Storytelling
Who We Are
Refugee Garden Initiatives (RGI) is an independent, refugee-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Michigan. Guided by lived experience, RGI works to expand access to culturally appropriate foods while creating spaces for education, wellness, and storytelling.
We believe food is more than sustenance—it is deeply connected to dignity, healing, memory, and belonging. Yet many refugees, immigrants, and underserved communities face food systems that do not reflect their cultures, traditions, or nutritional needs. RGI exists to help change that.
Our Story
RGI was founded in 2021 by Phimmasone Kym Owens, inspired by a question from her Social Work course: “How can you be an agent of change?” Rooted in her lived experience as a refugee and her lifelong connection to gardening, Phimmasone created RGI to address gaps in food access, representation, and support.
Lessons from RGI’s 2022 prototype garden—especially from single refugee mothers—helped shape its early direction. Today, RGI serves refugees, immigrants, international students, and others who face barriers to culturally appropriate food, resources, and opportunities for belonging.
Why This Work Matters
For many communities, food is not only about nutrition—it is about identity, culture, and connection. Displacement can interrupt access to familiar foods and traditions, making resettlement more challenging.
RGI works to ensure that culturally appropriate foods are recognized as an essential part of food access. We believe people deserve access to foods that reflect their cultures, support their wellbeing, and honor their lived experiences.
What Is A Refugee?
According to the United Nations, a refugee is a person who has fled their country of origin and is outside its borders due to a '“well-founded fear of persecution" for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
Our Holistic Approach
RGI takes a holistic, trauma-informed approach to support refugee individuals and communities in thriving, not just surviving. We recognize that access to food alone is not enough—people also need resources, opportunities, and spaces that support long-term wellbeing.
Food Security and Dignity
At RGI, we cultivate a culturally diverse garden that provides fresh,
nourishing produce while honoring ancestral farming traditions.
In addition, we supply refugee families with garden space, tools,
seeds and resources at no charge to them, so that they have
autonomy and agency in growing their own food. For many
refugees, food is more than sustenance—it is deeply connected
to identity, memory, health, and belonging.
In the United States, the importance of culturally appropriate foods is overlooked, and families are
expected to adapt to unfamiliar options that do not reflect their traditions, preferences, or nutritional
needs. RGI believes refugees deserve access to foods that nourish both body and spirit. We work to
challenge the idea that people should simply be grateful for any food offered, and instead advocate for
culturally appropriate foods as an essential part of food access, dignity, and well-being.
Trauma-Informed Care
We recognize the lasting impact of war, displacement, and resettlement on refugee communities and believe care must be both trauma-informed and culturally responsive. Healing is not one-size-fits-all. Meaningful support must consider a person’s history, culture, and lived experience. What feels helpful in one context may not feel safe or effective in another. At RGI, we carry this understanding into our Summer Healing Series, which includes community potlucks, yoga, and floral workshops, where participants can reconnect, reflect, and heal.
Education and Empowerment
At RGI, we recognize that refugees often face systemic barriers
compounded by displacement, limited resources, and language
obstacles. It is not enough to simply survive after fleeing war
and instability—people need education and support to truly thrive.
That is why we offer English as a Second Language (ESL) and financial literacy programs designed to
strengthen confidence, expand opportunity, and support long-term independence. For many refugees,
this kind of education can help restore dignity, agency, and a greater sense of stability.
Amplifying Voices
Representation matters. RGI was founded by a refugee and remains grounded in lived experience, creating a space where refugee voices are not only heard but also valued as sources of leadership, insight, and change. Too often, refugees are spoken about rather than meaningfully included in the conversations that shape their lives. Through storytelling, advocacy, and leadership opportunities, RGI works to ensure that refugee voices are respected, visible, and able to influence systems, policies, and public understanding. We believe refugees are the strongest stewards of their own stories, and those stories should lead to action.
Founder/Executive Director
My name is Phimmasone Kym Owens, and I am the founder and executive director of Refugee Garden Initiatives (RGI).
I arrived in the United States in 1981, at four years old, through the Chicago airport. I still remember seeing snow for the first time and thinking it was ice cream. That moment—full of wonder and misunderstanding—captures so much of what it meant to begin life in a new country.
As a Lao refugee child, I quickly learned that adapting was not optional. I learned how to use silverware, how to eat unfamiliar foods, and how to follow new norms. At school, milk was often the only thing offered to drink—even though I was lactose intolerant—and lunch never quite filled me the way food at home once had. I missed the comfort of sticky rice, soup, and the sauces I grew up scooping with my hands. Food, which had once been familiar and grounding, became something I had to navigate.
But even in those early years, I found moments of connection. I remember how Lao communities transformed small apartment spaces into gardens—sometimes even in parking lots. Those gardens felt alive. They carried memory, culture, and resilience. They showed me that no matter where we are, we find ways to grow what we need. That connection stayed with me.
Photography by Sarah Boeke
Years later, after moving to Ann Arbor and living in an apartment without access to land, I joined a community garden. It brought me back to that same feeling—of belonging, of reconnecting with something that had always been a part of me.
I eventually returned to school later in life, shaped by the understanding that many refugees, including myself, did not always have access to education or resources earlier on. I wanted to study food, gardening, and how migration intersects with lived experience—because I had lived it.
Refugee Garden Initiatives grew from that journey. It is rooted in both personal experience and a broader vision: to create spaces where refugees and underserved communities can access culturally appropriate foods, reconnect with their traditions, and find pathways to healing, education, and empowerment.
Today, my work brings together food, storytelling, wellness, and advocacy. I collaborate with communities, students, and institutions to help shift how we think about food systems—so that they reflect the people they are meant to serve.
At the heart of everything I do is a simple belief: culturally appropriate food is not a luxury—it is a vital part of dignity, health, and belonging.
With gratitude,
Phimmasone Kym Owens
Founder/Executive Director
Board of Directors
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Dr. Suchiraphon (Su) McKeithen-Polish
PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Suchiraphon (Su) McKeithen-Polish was born and raised in Thailand and lived in various countries due to her father's diplomatic career. She is a highly accomplished and influential figure in the field of bilingual education and community leadership. With a wealth of experience and expertise, she currently serves as a Bilingual Education Program/Title III Consultant at Macomb ISD and is an active member of the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) EL Advisory Committee, EL Statewide Network, and the National Association of Bilingual Education. Additionally, she holds the esteemed position of Commissioner of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC) and serves as the President of the Council of Asian Pacific Americans (CAPA).
Dr. Su is also a devoted spouse and parent to three accomplished daughters, each flourishing in their respective fields of study and work.
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Colm Fay
TREASURER/SECRETARY, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Colm Fay was born and raised in Ireland and immigrated to the US for graduate school. He is an alumnus of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan and has worked in international development and inclusive business for over 13 years. Colm is an independent consultant and works with non-profits and social enterprises on program design and planning, innovation, and learning strategy. He enjoys cooking, long hikes, camping, woodworking, and travel.
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Dr. Lesli Hoey
MEMBER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lesli Hoey was born in Bolivia. She is an associate of Urban and Regional Planning Program at the University of Michigan where she studies grassroots- and government-led efforts to intervene in the public health crisis, environmental degradation, and economic inequities rooted in today’s dominant food system. Focused on policy change, implementation and evaluation, she examines how innovative plans, policies and community visions translate into effective, wide-scaled, sustained action. Much of Dr. Hoey’s research has concentrated on Michigan since 2012 and Bolivia since 2007, places with contrasting contextual factors that affect the emergence and success of food systems transformations.