LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Afghan refugees search for a new place to live, a Kentucky service organization is preparing to help those who may need it.
What You Need To Know
- Catholic Charities Migration Refugee Services offers support with housing, employment and donated items
- The organization said it is preparing for any Afghan refugees who need help
- Donated items like clothing and household goods are stored in the old St. Anthony's Church
- The Kentucky Office for Refugees reports more than 30,000 refugees have been resettled in Kentucky since 1994
Colin Triplett is the resettlement director at Catholic Charities Migration Refugee Services in Louisville.
“When you’re thinking about what does a newly arrived refugee or a person that comes to the United States need, it’s kind of like everything," he said.
Donations of clothing and household goods available for refugees are stored inside the old St. Anthony’s Church.
As Afghans flee the country amid a Taliban takeover, the Pentagon has said the military has a goal of getting up to 9,000 people out a day.
"I think there’s a lot of worry for any family members that may still be over in Afghanistan and not knowing what the future holds for them," Triplett said.
Louisville has an Afghan community with an estimated 80 families here and some of the refugees from Kabul could be on the way, he said.
"I’ve been talking to people in the Afghan community because they’ve told me ... 'If anybody comes, we’re here, we’re ready to help them,' so that’s one conversation that I’ve had and also just the outpouring of support ... from our Catholic community in particular," said Triplett. "We get a lot of inquiries like, 'What can we do to help, what are you all doing?'"
According to the Kentucky Office for Refugees, since 1994, more than 30,000 refugees have been resettled in Kentucky and at the end of the 2019 Fiscal Year, the Commonwealth ranked 5th in the nation in the number of refugee arrivals.
"Our donations come from our great community, so we set up that apartment with those donations, not just like household goods, but furniture as well," Triplett said. "We pick people up from the airport, get them acclimated, and make sure that they understand their surrounding environment and then they go through like a process of orientation."
Catholic Charities has a program where a group of people can sponsor a refugee family by helping them find housing and donated items.