Resource site launched to aid refugees

Charitable groups, faith organizations and the city of San Antonio have teamed up to create an online resource for people seeking to help Afghan refugees.

Afghansinsa.org is a clearinghouse for information in four languages — English, Pashto, Dari and Spanish — about ways to help Afghan evacuees by volunteering, doing advocacy work or donating beds, household supplies and other items.

The site includes links to government and humanitarian agencies involved in trying to help Afghans escape their homeland. It also has information about how faith congregations can help evacuees find and

furnish housing, enroll children in school and access medical care.

Elected officials, advocates and community organizers met at City Hall on Friday afternoon to mark the launch of the site.

“We are a welcoming community as a city that has not only declared itself a compassionate city, but demonstrates it through policy and action,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg,

The website is a collaborative effort between the city and numerous charities, faith groups and advocacy organizations.

Marisol Girela, associate vice president of social programs for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or RAICES, said the group expects to assist about 200 Afghan evacuees. The group wants to partner with apartment complexes and real estate managers to secure housing for them.

Margaret Costantino, director of the nonprofit Center for Refugee Services, noted that the newcomers lack jobs here or credit histories. “They don’t have the necessary credentials to just go to an apartment complex and rent like you and I,” she said.

David Goldman / Associated Press Afghan refugees line up for food outside a dining hall Friday at Fort Bliss’ Doña Ana Village.