Refugee Support Committee

July 2023

Dear USH Community,

Greetings from the USH Refugee Committee! Below is a description of the organizations we support and their current needs.

1. The Lighthouse is a sanctuary/temporary home for recent asylees and refugees to our area.

2. Welcome Home is a local organization that provides educational, employment and material support to asylees and refugees in our area.

3. Church World Service (CWS) is a refugee resettlement agency that provides all sorts of support for recently arrived refugees, and legal support for asylum seekers.

While monetary donations to any of these organizations is always helpful, there are some In Kind needs that are outlined below.

The Lighthouse has three babies born in the US who are under 6 months old. Their parents traveled here from Columbia and Venezuela. They are always in need of diapers and wipes. If you have any other baby related items - toys, clothing for the fall for 12-16 months please email: harriet.taub@gmail.com.

Welcome Home is currently holding a back-to-school drive, to purchase school uniforms.  We suggest donating $54, which provides a full set of three uniforms for one child (the uniforms are $18 each), but any amount would be greatly appreciated.  Please visit https://bit.ly/refugeeuniforms.

CWS is working to help recently resettled refugees with their housing needs and are seeking small appliances, kitchen items, cookware, dishes, cutlery, etc. Everything must be donated clean. Also portable sewing machines are always in demand.

CWS also looks for people to drive new arrivals to appointments. In order to drive for a CWS sponsored family, you would need to have a background check for a fee of $50. If you are interested in driving for CWS, you can email Harriet Taub (harriet.taub@gmail.com) for the forms.

Welcome Home hosts Fun Club every Monday night at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. Volunteers are always needed to help children with their homework, conversational ESL practice and tutoring for adults, plan and lead a group activity for families, transportation of Welcome Home clients to and from the meeting site, and child care. Welcome Home is always in need of volunteers and donors to support their programs. If you would like to get involved and have more questions, you can email Hope Koturo (hkoturo@hotmail.com) for details or contact Welcome Home (info@welcomehomerefugees.org).  Please contact Hope or Harriet if you have anything to donate to any of these organizations.  The influx of refugees from Ukraine, South and Central America, and many African countries to our area over the next year will be huge! We will update you with new needs as they come in.

Finally, we are currently looking for new people to join the committee!  But if you are interested but don't want to join the committee... please email Hope as we also need occasional help with picking up and dropping off items for these organizations.

 

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,  

The USH Refugee Support Committee