Above: To support new members of our community, you can make a donation to the charity that aids refugee families and/or you can volunteer your time to help the support team.
Southborough is the new home for the family of a man who supported the U.S. Military in Afghanistan. A support “team” is helping the relocated refugees establish their new life in America. They are hoping that other Southborough residents will contribute support to the cause.
Aid can be in the form of financial (tax deductible) donations and/or volunteering your time.
Here are the details:
About two weeks ago a refugee family from Southeastern Afghanistan arrived in Southborough to start a new life. They had been housed temporarily at the Fort McCoy US Army base in Wisconsin before being put on a plane to come to Massachusetts. The family includes a mother, a father, a daughter (age 5) and a son (age 3). The Father had worked with and supported the US Military for nearly 15 years and would have been in significant danger if they had stayed in Afghanistan.
The Afghan family is being hosted in the home of a family in Southborough at no cost to them. The Afghan family is being supported by a team of people from Southborough and a few neighboring towns who volunteer their time to help the family.
The family’s support team is seeking additional help from Southborough residents in three key ways:
- First: Time. Additional volunteers who can occasionally help with transportation and support coordination.
- Second: Funds. While the family’s housing costs are covered, the team is raising funds to provide food and basic necessities for the family until they can find jobs and become self-reliant in this strange new land to them. Here is a link for people to donate to a fund specifically for this family:
- Third: Pashto Speakers. Any Pashto speakers who are willing to volunteer their time (befriend the family and help with translation).
Anyone interested in volunteering or who might have questions on how to help, please contact mprobst@southboroughma.com
Donations will be through Ascentria Care Alliance, a tax-deductible charity. (You can learn more about them here.)
The volunteer group is the “Marlborough Neighborhood Support Team” coordinated through Welcome NST.
They could contact the food pantry for assistance as well. https://www.southboroughfoodpantry.org/?page_id=44