Meet LSS-SW’s Dragan Subotic:

A Story of “Putting the Pieces Together”

Dragan Subotic is the only employee of more than 500, who has been in continuous employment with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest for ten years. But that is not what makes Dragan’s story remarkable.

Dragan, his wife and son, arrived in the United State of America and into Phoenix as refugees from the war in Bosnia on June 24, 1997. “All we had was two pieces of luggage. I had left behind 34 years of life. There was such emptiness,” he explained. “Our lives were in pieces, just scattered. You don’t know how or what life will look like, but we had hope,” he continued.

A Lutheran Social Ministries’ (now LSS-SW) case manager and several church volunteers met the Subotic’s upon their arrival in Phoenix. “Our case manager showed such warmth as he tried to mend the pieces… and where ever we went we felt welcomed,” Dragan explained. “My family and I truly felt LSS mission of ‘showing kindness, doing justice, and serving those in need’,” said Dragan.

Uniquely American

He came from an environment of war, strife based upon ethnic and religious hatred. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_Wars]. But one his first and lasting impressions of America is its feeling of welcoming newcomers and accepting cultural diversity. His friends living in other countries feel they will never be accepted as Canadians or Englishmen. “However, in the U.S. once you are a naturalized citizen, you are American. This is remarkable,” he exclaimed.

What is also remarkable, noted Dragan, is a year after arriving in the U.S., he stood in the Oval Office of the White House. On that same visit, a Congressman from Arizona gave him a personal tour of the Capitol Building, including the very top of the rotunda.

LSS client to LSS employee within four months

On Oct. 1, 1997, Dragan began working part-time for LSS-SW, picking up donations and setting-up apartments for newly arrived refugees. He was quickly promoted to Resource Coordinator with greater responsibilities in making pre-arrival arrangements and engaging the community in securing resources for LSS sponsored refugees. Three years ago, he was promoted to his current position as the Operations Manager for LSS-SW Multi-cultural Services Division, which runs programs in Phoenix and Tucson, and includes assisting refugee and asylees.

As Operations Manager, he runs the daily operations of the division. He routinely works with our partners, be they other non-profits or government agencies at the federal, state and local level and helps run immigration services for the agency.

Taking on challenges, putting pieces together

The most memorable event for Dragan was four years ago. The Tucson Refugee Program was having difficulties. Twice a week for eight months, he drove to Tucson to help reorganize the office and bring it back to health. “It was an opportunity to use my skills, knowledge, and experience. It was a chance to prove myself,” Dragan recollected. “I turned the program around and was recognized for it. But what is memorable is how good it felt to take the broken pieces and put them together and make it work.”

Dragan likes the feeling he gets from rebuilding from broken pieces. “Refugees arrive with a broken life. They are in pieces having experienced physical or mental trauma in a war zone. Their lives are in pieces, and they arrive looking into your eyes with such hope. This agency helps to make their lives work again,” said Dragan.

Last year, Dragan became an accredited representative of the Board of Immigration Appeals which now enables him to serve as an official representative in signing a client’s immigration paperwork for adjustment of status, naturalization, refugee travel documents, and family reunification petitions. “We help people move on, and live again in a country of opportunity. We help them become self-sufficient as quickly as possible, within a few months to a year. Their children are in school, they have a job, and a car. But they still are made up of those broken pieces and they can break again if they are not careful,” Dragan emphasized.

If you ask Dragan why he stayed with LSS-SW for so long, he will tell you it is our mission that has kept him here. “I lost my mother several years ago, but LSS is like my second mother. You never forget what your mother has done for you. Working for LSS, I’ve found my spirit and my life. That is enough for me.”

In 2004, the Subotic family became U.S. citizens, and five years ago they were blessed with the birth of their second son.

If you or your church organization would like to become involved with the refugee resettlement program, contact the Tucson office at (520) 721-4444 or the Phoenix office at (602) 248-4400.