Afghan Family Resettlement Blog

Dear CDT Community, 

With the approval of the CDT Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce our Tikkun Olam commitment to help sponsor the resettlement of an Afghan family to our area. The program, known nationally as Afghan Parolee Assistant Program (APA), is being coordinated locally by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and other agencies. It's a HUGE mitzvah and one that will make a meaningful difference for a family that has suffered terrible trauma in the past several months. Please read on for important details about next steps.

Our support includes initial financial support for the family as well as in-kind donations to help furnish their rental housing. Over the next year, our hope is also to assist the family members in obtaining employment and becoming self-sufficient. Our immediate concern is to ease the trauma that the family has suffered over the past several months by supplying a well-stocked, safe home and plenty of friendly support to aid their transition into the Boston area and American society as a whole.

Here are the tasks that accompany our obligation to help resettle an Afghan family:  

1. Raise an initial $15,000.  Based upon past experience supporting refugee families, JCRC asks that we have this amount on hand initially to ensure that the family can meet its immediate needs. We need to raise this money as soon as possible (and already have over $5,000 pledged!). If you are able to help, please go to the CDT website’s Giving Page, choose “donation” and select “Afghan Assistance Fund” from the drop down menu to make a tax-deductible contribution using a credit card or ACH. Alternatively,  mail a check to the office at 60 Highland St in West Newton with the memo “Afghan Assistance  Fund ” to make clear the purpose of the donation. Feel free to send this request to friends, family, and others in your circle outside of CDT.
2. Secure housing. Are you a realtor or landlord, or do you know a realtor or landlord, who might help us find a two- or three-bedroom rental apartment at a reasonable monthly rate in Newton, Watertown, Waltham, or JP? Please contact either of the project co-chairs, Annette Jacobs, Janet Penn.

• Donate furniture and household items. Once housing is secured, we will begin collecting furniture and household items to furnish the family apartment.  The CDT Leadership Team will post a checklist of needed items.
• Volunteer time. Clearly, resettlement will require many volunteers to welcome the family. The Leadership Team will need your help with donations of furniture and household items, providing transportation for shopping and medical appointments, helping with school enrollment; connecting with medical and trauma care; helping find employment, teaching English as a Learned Language (ELL), and more.

We will send more information as it becomes available, and a web page will be developed to keep you abreast of how the effort is progressing.

On behalf of the CDT Board, I want to thank the following members of the APA Leadership Team that have already spent considerable time making plans so the Board could support this important project.

• Annette Jacobs and Janet Penn, Co-chairs
• Corrine Lofchie, Communications
• Jerry Friedman, Legal
• Meryl Epstein, Fundraising
• Paul Hattis, Health
• Tony Broh, (Ad Hoc)

Feel free to email Janet (janetpenn559@gmail.com) and Annette (a.jacobs2@comcast.net) with any questions. We hope you will consider taking part in support of this Afghan family.  It will take a large community effort.

Sincerely,
Bob Warren, President