Trinity Episcopal Church will host Refugee Story Night on Friday, November 9.

The special event will include a light meal, movie screening, and panel discussion. It will run from 5:30 until 9 pm at the church, 36 Main Street.

The evening will open with a light meal by Greenleaf Persian Catering, owned and operated by a Iranian refugee family that was resettled by Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS). The New Haven-based refugee resettlement organization helps families rebuild their lives in the United States after years of persecution and displacement.

The screening of the 2017 film Soufra will follow dinner. Soufra follows the inspirational story Mariam Shaar, an unlikely entrepreneur whose family lived for generations in the Burj El Barajneh refugee camp just south of Beirut, Lebanon.

The film follows Mariam as she sets out against all odds to change her fate by launching a successful catering company, Soufra, and then expands it into a food truck business with a diverse team of fellow refugee women living in the same camp.

Copies of Soufra, a cookbook featuring unique recipes created by some of the refugees featured in the film, will be available for purchase.

A panel discussion will then continue the evening. Scheduled guests include Chris George, the executive director of IRIS; Sam Rose, the owner of Greenleaf Persian Catering; Cindy Dunn, vice president of the Newtown-based Interfaith Partnership for Refugee Resettlement, which has worked with IRIS to place to families since its formation in 2016; and local social activist Maryyan Ali.

Tickets are $25, and they can be reserved through [naviga:u]soufra.eventbrite.com[/naviga:u]. Proceeds will benefit IRIS.

Additional information is available by calling Trinity Church, 203-426-9070.