Phoenix-area nonprofit gives refugees warm welcome this holiday season
Dec 29, 2016, 1:34 PM | Updated: Dec 30, 2016, 8:29 pm
A family of refugees eats at a restaurant on October 30, 2012. (Flickr/Eden, Janine and Jim)
(Flickr/Eden, Janine and Jim)
PHOENIX — This holiday season, refugees who settled in the Valley are getting more than just Christmas presents, thanks to a Tempe-based nonprofit organization.
The Welcome to America Project delivers basic household and personal items to families around the Valley, said Executive Director Collin Cunningham.
Cunningham said the organization has been delivering everything from furniture and home decor to household items and cleaning products to refugee families in the Valley for the past 15 years.
“Everything you need when you come to this country and you have nothing,” she said.
WTAP works with four referral organizations around Arizona to get the items, most of which are charitable donations. The organization has more than 1,300 returning volunteers who help pack and deliver items to families.
The organization works with up to 175 refugee families per year, Cunningham said.
“We are working to increase the number of refugee families that we see every year,” she said. “We believe that every refugee family deserves community support and a warm welcome.”
