SHREWSBURY (KMOX) -- Kids from Afghanistan, adjusting to a new life in St. Louis, got to just have fun Monday night. Rockin' Jump trampoline park on Watson Rd. closed early to host a private party for 250 refugees.
"From what I understand, most of the families that are here tonight, the fathers in the families were bodyguards and interpreters for the U.S. military that was over there, so these guys are all heroic," owner Matt Strelo says.
Strelo says a refugee support group originally just asked him for a few tickets, but he decided to go ahead and host a big party for all the children.
"I said, 'why don't we just close down for a night and invite them all?'"
"They need love, they need friendship, they need advocates," says organizer Delia Andrews of her getting involved with the Welcome Neighbor STL group. "It's like my whole life led me to this."
Irfan Nawabi, a high school student who got here four years ago, says it's great to see so much joy from kids who've had to live serious lives.
"All these people, you can see them smiling, they're all happy," Nawabi says, adding that he loves living in the St. Louis area now.
"You look at what's going on in Ukraine right now, and you just want to hug these families and these kids. You think back and the same thing was happening six to eight months ago in Afghanistan," Strelo says.