BUFFALO (WBEN) - Buffalo and Western New York are preparing to accept 350 Afghan evacuees in the coming weeks, and several local organizations are campaigning to ease that transition for them, especially because many of these evacuees won't qualify for government funded benefits.
"The majority of the Afghans who will be coming to the United States are coming in as parolees - they have gotten what's called humanitarian parole," explained Karen Andolina Scott, executive director of Journey's End Refugee Services. "These parolees are different from refugees in the sense that they are not part of the formal refugee resettlement process, meaning that they do not have the same access to services; they don't have the same access to services; they don't have the same access to benefits, and they don't have the same access to a path toward citizenship that our other refugees have."
The campaign's goal is to raise $750,000 for the evacuees to cover cost of living and temporary housing.
Afghan community member Behrooz (he preferred us not to use his last name) came to Buffalo with his family five years ago as a refugee, and he said the local Afghan community, which is comprised of about 3,000 people, are ready to do whatever they need to in order to provide a smooth transition into the area for these evacuees.
"The Afghan community are ready to give hands to be useful and helpful to newcomers," he said. "We will help them with transportation; we will help them with medical appointments; we will help them for grocery shopping - anything that can come from us, we are at your service."
Milad Safary is president of the Afghan New Generation, which is a youth organization in the local Afghan community, and he said he's trying to figure out a way to evacuate his aunt, uncle, and grandmother out of Afghanistan.
"My friend...was going to be graduated this semester from Kabul University in electrical engineering," said Safary. "Now he's stuck in Kabul and says the generation in Afghanistan was just like a seed that was about to sprout, but now there's literally no hope because there's no one left there.
"My phone is filled with messages from my family and friends who are all living in a life of despair," he continued. "People in Kabul are asking for help, and those in the United States are desperately looking for a way to help their families."
