October 8, 2021

Westfield State interfaith center donates gift cards for Afghan evacuees

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Rebecca Drake

 

SPRINGFIELD – They will come to western Massachusetts from U.S. Air Force bases with one or two small carry-on bags of basic items.

But the 34 men, women and children evacuated during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will be able to purchase food, clothing and household items thanks to a donation of $625 worth of gift cards from the Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center at Westfield State University.

The gift cards for Target, Big Y, Stop & Shop, and Walmart were delivered to the Springfield Diocese’s Catholic Charities Agency on Thursday, Oct. 7 by interfaith center members Frank and Betty Sposito. The gift cards were purchased with the collections from the last three Sunday Masses held at the interfaith center.

“The timing (of the donation) is just great,” said Kathryn Buckley-Brawner, Catholic Charities Agency executive director, as she accepted the donation at the agency’s Elliot Street offices. “This will come in so very handy.”

“We are very grateful to the Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center; they have given us cash donations in the past,” she said.

Buckley-Brawner said that her agency will be assisting 34 evacuees, one of whom arrived last Saturday, Oct. 2. Six more are to come on Friday, Oct. 8, and several more on Saturday, Oct. 9.

“They arrive with nothing, they left everything behind,” Buckley-Brawner said. She noted that the evacuees will stay at the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Assisi retreat house in Holyoke until next March, when the sister will resume in-person retreats.

The Spositos, parishioners of St. Peter and St. Casimir Parish in Westfield, are grandparents of four small children. In addition to the gift card donations, the couple wanted to know what other needs of the new arrivals can be addressed in the coming months.

Betty Sposito, a retired nurse, asked about health services, language interpreters, and religious accommodations for the new arrivals.

“These are God’s people coming to a new country,” Betty said. “We need to get the point across to them that ‘We’re here to help you.’”

Buckley-Brawner said that the local Catholic Charities office has recently hired a new case worker who was himself a refugee from Afghanistan, speaks the dominant Pashto language, and is a competent English speaker as well.

Addressing Betty’s other questions, Buckley-Brawner said the evacuees have received an initial health screening at the air force bases and initially will be serviced locally by the Department of Public Health. The evacuees, most of whom are Muslim, will be welcomed at mosques in Hadley, Holyoke, Springfield, and West Springfield.

Frank Sposito echoed his wife’s commitment to continuing assistance for the evacuees as they build new lives in western Massachusetts. “It’s the long term,” he said.

Buckley-Brawner explained that local groups of volunteers, called Circles of Care, consisting of five to 10 volunteers per family, are organized in communities to help the new arrivals adapt to a new culture.

Local individuals and groups wishing to offer assistance to the evacuees from Afghanistan can contact the diocese’s Catholic Charities Agency at 413.452.0605.