Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Catholic Charities is currently seeking groups or individual volunteers to help aid in their Immigration & Refugee Assistance Program (IRAP).
They are currently looking for volunteers to fill a variety of positions, which includes an immediate need for drivers, transportation guides, and teams who can assist in setting up a safe home environment for newly arriving refugee families.
"We have incredibly dedicated and passionate case managers, but some of our supplemental services are huge to helping get a new refugee family up and running, independent and integrated into our community," says Rikki Nawotka-Ace, Senior Director of the IRAP. "We can't do that work without volunteers. For the last 100 years, Catholic Charities has relied right on the dedication of community individuals and valuable volunteers to really provide that beacon of hope and that new welcome feeling to new families who are really seeing some traumatizing and difficult situations."
Refugees resettled by Catholic Charities arrive in the United States through the auspices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops/Migration Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS) and only after approval from the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Current needs and responsibilities include:
Drivers: Volunteers with trucks help pick up donations from the donor’s house and drop off to Catholic Charities or to a client’s new home. The ability to lift heavy furniture and climb stairs is necessary and a clean New York State driver’s license and compliance with traffic laws are required.
Transportation Guide: Volunteers meet with newly arrived refugees to help them learn how to use public transportation, and to show clients how to read bus schedules, route maps, and buy and use bus tickets. Experience with using Buffalo public transit is preferred.
Good Neighbors Project: Teams of eight to 12 volunteers help create a welcoming and safe home environment for new families before they arrive. This includes collecting new and gently used furniture and household items to provide a complete home set up in Buffalo. Individuals also may inquire about this opportunity.
"Flexibility absolutely is key really, different times of the day, different days a week, we're able to be flexible with and ideally, we're looking for someone who's welcoming, who's friendly, who's enthusiastic about doing some of this work with refugees. Someone that's reliable, someone that's able to respect the rights and the confidentiality of others that they're meeting, and really can go in with a non judgmental approach to their volunteer responsibilities," says Nawotka-Ace.
Back in June, the Catholic Charities of Buffalo had formed a partnership with with four other refugee services providers to help better to cater to the specific strengths of the groups and provide a more optimal and catered experience to the refugees. We asked Nawotka-Ace how that partnership has been going.
"Our partner agencies are crucial, right? Being able to be on the same page with trends that we're seeing and the needs of families that are coming in and be able to communicate all of those things to make sure that not only there's continuity and consistency with services, but that, again, we're all on the same page, all providing those same services and communicating about any barriers we may be coming across, so that partnership has been huge. We're deeply grateful for that collaboration with all of the other refugee agencies in Buffalo."
To volunteer your time, you can call (716) 218-1450 ext. 2006 or visit www.ccwny.org/get-involved for more details.