In the Spring of 2022, NorCalPCA members organized a Welcome Team in partnership with Jewish Family & Community Services East Bay (JFCS) that provided support over a 4-month period to a family from Afghanistan that had arrived in Concord as refugees following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in September 2021. JFCS has asked if NorCalPCA would like to form a second volunteer team to support one of the many families that will be arriving from Afghanistan and Central America in the near future.
Before we launch a formal conversation with JFCS, the NorCalPCA Board would like to assess the level of interest that exists among members. For context, below are a few points summarizing NorCalPCA’s efforts in 2022.
If you are interested in participating, or have questions, please send an email by February 8th to [email protected]
If there appears to be an adequate level of interest, we will schedule a Zoom call with JFCS staff to provide more details and answer questions.
Summary of Volunteer Team work from 2022 for context:
The volunteer group was organized into 2 separate functions: 1) fundraising and 2) working directly with the family.
The volunteer group was organized into 2 separate functions: 1) fundraising and 2) working directly with the family.
- Family visits (ESL tutoring, one-on-one time to discuss the family’s needs or any issues/concerns, community meetings, cultural celebrations, etc)
- Helped connect the family with a wide variety of service providers (school staff, rental support, events, workforce development)
- Provided transportation to medical appointments and scheduled meetings
- Assisted with job search efforts (resume review, interview practice, etc)
- Addressed the family’s expressed priority needs (helped to procure a vehicle from the community and get it running safely, register for school, etc)
- Research and resource searching for local programs that the family might find interesting
- Fundraising (The team raised over $6,000 in direct family support and general support for JFCS)