Refugee agency's fundraising campaign crosses $1M
With one week left for its Crisis Response Fund campaign, the Refugee Partnership of Western New York has crossed the $1 million mark to carry out its work.
The five local agencies that help resettle refugees in the region launched the 30-day effort to raise $1.5 million to cover program funding shortfalls in the wake of the U.S. Department of State freezing funds toward the Reception and Placement program. This compensates refugee agencies based on how many they work with.
The funding would cover the most critical services for 731 refugees who arrived in the region 90 days before this stop-work order went into effect. Those include housing, food, and case management work agency workers do to help assimilate them into their new homes.
The five organizations are Jewish Family Services of WNY, Journey's End Refugee Services, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, International Institute of Buffalo, and Jericho Road Community Health Center.
This fundraiser also comes as these organizations announced layoffs due to cuts in federal funding going their way. JFS had even turned to Presbyterian churches it had previously partnered with to donate goods toward furnishing the new homes for some families.
Foundations and businesses that made donations so far include the Western New York Foundation, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, M&T Bank, Health Foundation for Western and Central New York, Patrick P. Lee Foundation, and the Tower Foundation.
Donations can still be made through March 9 through www.refugeepartnership.org or by making checks payable to the Jewish Family Services of WNY.
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