New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘People were amazing’
Shoreline residents donate household items to help Afghan refugees
MADISON — Judy Keane was overwhelmed by the generosity.
After setting her sights on a drive to help Afghan refugees who are arriving in New Haven to start new lives, the donations started to pour in.
Now, new arrivals will be offered toasters, coffee makers, towels, sheets and warm clothing collected from the Shoreline.
“I was just totally blown away,” said Keane, who organized a Shoreline drive at St. Margaret Church. “People were just so, so generous. I am just thrilled. I was happy to do my part.”
All the collected items were delivered to Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services in New Haven, a nonprofit organization that helps refugees and other displaced people establish new lives in Connecticut.
That number of refugees in the state has been growing, according to Sarah Jessup, IRIS community engagement manager.
“We take anybody,” she said. “This year there are more Afghan refugees, but some of our families are from the Congo, some of them are from Syria, Iraq.”
Jessup said in 2020 the organization settled 142 refugees and that number has increased to 439 refugees thus far this year, with more expected.
“We will resettle 400 Afghans in October through January and then about 300 additional for a total of 700 for 2022,” she said.
This jump is “huge, huge, huge,” she added.
The need has grown to
the point that state officials early this month state put out the call for landlords to come forward to help house refugees. Deidre Gifford, state commissioner of the Department of Social Services, said at that time that there were 214 Afghan refugees in Connecticut, with
510 refugees set to arrive through December.
The commissioner also said that most of the Afghan refugees are under the age of 30, quite a few had children, and that there were “quite a few younger adults. Older individuals are a smaller percentage.”
Gov. Ned Lamont has said the state has a task force providing support for housing, education and jobs for refugees, and he thinks “this is what America is all about.”
But Susan Schnitzer, president and CEO of the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, said many also had fled their homes with just bags and had been in military bases for weeks or months.
IRIS, the largest resettlement agency in Connecticut, has been finding homes for the new arrivals, and the new dwellings need to be furnished with everything that one would need starting out.
This resonated with Keane, she said.
“I was inspired to do this after seeing a piece on TV about the refugees arriving into the New Haven area and how the need was to find homes and get them furnished, so they can be resettled here,” said Keane.
So she reached out to area churches, including Guilford’s St. George Parish, the First Congregational Church of Madison, North Madison Congregational Church, Lutheran Church of Madison, St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church and St. Margaret Church, both in Madison and Clinton’s St. Mary’s Church of Visitation, to invite their parishioners to participate.
“They were all very good about doing it and the turnout was amazing,” said Keane, a Madison resident.
The drive amassed such a large amount of goods that IRIS arranged for Marie’s Movers to assist with the delivery.
This Southbury company has volunteered for years to assist with moving items into apartments of refugees, mainly in the New Haven and Bridgeport areas. Owned by Jim Anctil, the company now is under contract with IRIS, at a discounted rate. Without help from a moving company, transferring such a high volume of items would not be possible, Anctil has said.
“People were amazing with the things that they brought,” Keane said. “I had people come with complete dish sets, brand new coffee makers, toasters.”
In addition to furnishings and clothing, Keane collected $200 in monetary donations.
“The more money we can get for furniture and clothing, the better these families are,” said Jessup.
Every donation is appreciated, Jessup said.
“We are as strong as our community support,” she said. “It’s fantastic.”