Dear Community, May 1, 2025

WRAP, along with WARM, AnsaaR and Neighborhood Support Teams (NST’s) is part of a collaborative group of grassroots organizations based in Worcester, MA who have been made aware of urgent needs for refugee families who have resettled in Worcester in the past several months. These are people who were invited by the US to bring their families here to find safety, rebuild their lives, and integrate into our community. As the most recently arrived refugees, they have been most impacted by the federal cuts in funding for refugee resettlement. Promises were made and broken.

With funding frozen and programs canceled, organizations resettling refugees are owed millions of dollars for services provided prior to January. Some of that money was supposed to help offset rent costs for the families and help them get on their feet, but it is gone.

We are reaching out to you to help.

As their neighbors, we can do something about this. We are people who care for vulnerable refugee families; we stand up for justice and work together to right wrongs; we believe even small things can make a big difference to change the outcome for a family in crisis. Together, we can choose to do to others what we would want done to us. 

The Situation:

Several families have been moved out of temporary housing (a hotel or Airbnb) and placed into shared apartments with another family they didn’t know. This is causing significant stress and hindering families' ability to get on their feet. Large numbers of individuals with limited shared space (bathrooms, kitchen), differences of cultures and languages all result in additional trauma, fears, and hopelessness. All of them want to focus on stabilizing their families, looking for employment, and gaining peace and independence. Their current living conditions do not allow this to happen.

Currently, there are at least 10 high priority families in 5 shared apartments who urgently need people to step in to provide help so they can get into stable housing situations and begin to recover and rebuild. Additionally, we are tracking 11 other families who may be at risk of going into crisis. 

One apartment has 2 families, totaling 11 people with children ranging from 14 to 4, and only one bathroom. Volunteers are bringing them needed items. They are feeling depressed, powerless, hopeless, and scared. We listened and offered hope for better days to come. We do have hope, because we believe our community cares and just needs to know how they can help.

What Can You Do?

Give Generously - We are looking for financial support for families to get into their own apartment. They’ve not had a lot of time to save for their initial expenses. We are hoping we can help with 1 to 3 months worth of rent (first, last, and security deposit) to get them over the barrier as first time tenants.

Network - share this opportunity with others - Please pass this along to your friends, family, and colleagues. Maybe you know of employers or landlords who would be willing to work with new Americans. 

Tax deductible donations can be made by going to WRAP - Donate or scan the QR code below. All funds will be used specifically for these families to assist with rent including first/last/security deposit for their own apartments. The funds will be disbursed directly to the landlord.  We will help as many people as we can with the funds we receive. Our goal is to raise at least $60,000.

On behalf of our Worcester community partners, we thank you.  Please reach out to me or the person who shared this with you with any questions. We would love to hear from you. 

Millie Rao

Executive Director of WRAP

508-320-5819

Millie@worcesterrefugees.org