Lemkin House Inc was born in Grand Rapids Michigan and began its life in a six-unit apartment house. We served several dozen asylum seekers from all over the world, giving them a free place to stay if they needed it, free legal representation, and food.  The food was not quite free, but thanks to Feeding America of West Michigan, http://www.feedwm.org, and the heroic volunteer efforts of Sue and Gary Gilmore, it almost was!

After several years, the maintenance, heating, and mortgage bills grew way beyond our ability to pay them, and so we sold the building,

and moved our base to Kalamazoo.  Instead of buying another building, we began slowly by renting apartment space from an agency serving the working poor, OPEN DOORS.  We have kept this apartment occupied ever since.

We held our first public event in Kalamazoo on June 24, 2015, celebrating Raphael Lemkin’s 115th birthday by eating cake donated by our supporters and viewing “Watchers of the Sky”,  a intense and moving documentary tracking the life of Lemkin and the legacy of his work to criminalize genocide. Check out the website, http://www.watchersofthesky.com,  We are grateful to Elizabeth Bohart for allowing us to show the film for a fundraiser.

Our guest of honor was Judy Lemkin Gay, a relative of our hero, and, by happy coincidence, a Kalamazoo resident.

ROSIE’S PLACE: In the fall of 2015 we found a new home, thanks to the Sisters of St. Joseph.