Call for hand-me-downs to help refugees across Tennessee
The Tennessee Resettlement Aid is currently helping 2,000 people, including 750 families.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - If you’re looking to redecorate or renovate this summer, your old rugs, mattresses and other home goods can find new life helping the thousands of refugees being forced to start a new life in Tennessee.
Katie Finn, executive director of Tennessee Resettlement Aid, said her non-profit is currently helping 2,000 people, including 750 families, with everything from mattresses, bedding, rugs, and furniture to food and clothing.
The Nashville resident was doing graduate work in Bosnia when she witnessed the plight of refugees crossing the border. When she returned to Nashville during the pandemic and learned about the hundreds of Afghan families who worked for the U.S. military being relocated to Tennessee in order to flee the Taliban, Finn got to work, and she hasn’t stopped.
“They love rugs; they love Persian rugs, anything comfortable like this,” Finn said, as she showed off a donated rug that was earmarked for an Afghan family with two small children. “Their houses when you walk inside are covered in rugs. So if you have anything just laying around your house, please donate to us, because families would really appreciate it and need it.”
Finn said coffee tables are another requested item.
The organization is currently seeing growing numbers of refugees from the war-torn Ukraine and Turkey after recent earthquakes destroyed much of that country.
Volunteers will pick up and deliver your large items directly to families.
For more information or to donate, go to Home - Tennessee Resettlement Aid.
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