Afghan Welcoming Effort

A Recipe for AWE:

Take an empty 3-bedroom apartment in Providence.

 Add:

● 14 volunteers from Temple Beth-El and St. Martin’s Church

●     furniture from Dorcas International Institute of RI and congregant donors

● “elbow grease” for cleaning

● “brawn” to transport furniture and (many) boxes of household goods

Season with:

●     the generosity of countless congregants from Temple Beth-El and St. Martin’s

●     enthusiasm for packing, unpacking and setting up a household

Mix all of the above over two days.

Serves an Afghan family of six that will soon include a newborn.

At the end of this process, an empty apartment will be transformed into a warm and welcoming home!

Thanks to ALL who contributed the ingredients to this initial Afghan Welcoming Effort (AWE)! Temple Beth-El’s AWE is supporting the work of Dorcas International Institute of RI (DIIRI), one of two resettlement agencies in RI.  We are partnering with our neighbors at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church to clean and furnish apartments.  Afghan families are arriving now and we need your help to transform empty apartments into warm and welcoming homes.  Ideally, Afghan families will be brought from the airport to their new, turn-key apartments; some stay temporarily in airbnbs.

You may also support AWE by making a monetary donation to Temple Beth-El (with AWE in the memo line). Finally, volunteers are always welcome! Please contact Amy Gaddes (gaddesamy@gmail.com, (516) 298-6312) or Carolyn Winter (winter.zebulun@gmail.com, (401) 316-8272) for more info on how you can be a part of this “recipe.”