Here are some of the things we’ve been up to lately:

We have been asked by the Westfield Fun Club to help stock the kitchens of two or three newly resettled refugee families when they arrive at their first US apartments, probably in or around Garfield, NJ, over the next couple of weeks.  We are looking for volunteers to shop for food and other kitchen goods and to deliver the items to one or more of the families.  Volunteers will be provided with a list of the needed goods, which the Fun Club expects will cost about $400 per family and will be reimbursed by funds that the Refugee Assistance Group has previously raised.  If you would like to volunteer to shop for and deliver the items, please contact Andy ().

We continue to supply food and other goods on a weekly bulk delivery basis to the Fun Club for distribution to many refugee families in the Elizabeth area. Here’s an example of a recent week’s order:

We are very excited about the resettlement progress that has been made by the two Afghan brothers whom we have “adopted” through Refugee Assistance Partners (RAPNJ).  The older brother (23 years old) is now in his second week of work at a precision metal cutting company and, despite a commute of almost 2 hours each way by bus, is already getting rave reviews.  The younger brother (14 years old) reports that he now has 50 friends in his 8th-grade class and that he is the star of the soccer team in gym.  (Our team is tutoring him in English and Math and is happy to report that he is also doing very well academically!)

Thank you all for your continued support.

Shabbat Shalom,
Judith, Mike, and Andy

Purchases of food and household goods are financed by our members’ financial contributions. You can make a contribution online at Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, Refugee Assistance, or by a check made out to “Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund” and sent to Congregation Shomrei Emunah, 67 Park Street, Montclair, NJ 07042, designating “Refugee Assistance” in the check’s memo line.