Douglas Calvano arrived with a one-way ticket to Medellin in 1993, to a city rife with addiction, warring drug cartels and massive internal displacement due to Colombia's decades old civil conflict. Douglas began to work with displaced Colombians, homeless, and addicts, sharing Christ and helping as able with practical needs. Formally registered in 2008, City of Refuge remains committed to providing Christian programing and emergency assistance to vulnerable individuals living in Colombia. 

Colombia's drug war has left 7,300,000 internally displaced persons migrating into urban centers looking for help.  Additionally, the recent humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has caused thousands of Venezuelans to flee their country and daily enter Colombia seeking assistance and/or transiting to other countries.  The neighborhood surrounding Ciudad Refugio currently comprised 80% Venezuleans, large historical homes have been purchased corruptly and turned into illegal shelters, charging high daily rates to poor families to rent rooms.  Individuals and families beg, prostitute or work informally to pay for housing.  These families often go without food and other basic services.   

In partnership with High5Give5, Ciudad Refugio has opened its doors to our local community, providing weekly feeding programs and humanitarian aid to Colombians and Venezuelans in need.  We provide 50 families with grocery boxes containing basic food staples sufficient to sustain them for a month. Grocery boxes contain: rice, beans, lentils, salt, panela, oil, pastas, bologna and toilet paper.  We also have weekend feeding programs offering a hot meal to children and single mothers.  This meal is accompanied by Christian teaching and emotional support for children and single moms (and often grandmothers).  Once a week we also visit local shelters in our community, carrying food, children's activities and the word of God to encourage children and single moms to make a decision for Jesus and to become a part of Ciudad Refugio's church community.