JEVS Human Services, its Center for New Americans and Forman Mills teamed up on Monday for a donation event at Orleans Technical College, 2770 Red Lion Road.
Refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan were able to select items they and their families need. Forman Mills donated items such as clothing, shoes, coats, household items, toiletries and accessories.
Forman Mills community outreach coordinator Rebecca Slutsky said the donated clothing, shoes, home goods, accessories, etc. all fit into today’s trends and fashions.
“They come from all of our departments,” she said.
JEVS volunteer manager Ranee Shipley was impressed with the selection.
“Look at all this stuff. It’s all brand-new stuff,” she said. “And they get to shop with dignity.”
Among those shopping were Abdul Shirzad and his 3½-year-old son Aliabbas, who fled Afghanistan last year; Victoria Perminova, who came to Philadelphia from Ukraine with her family a month ago; and Natalia Uzbek, who arrived in Philadelphia in late July from Ukraine with her husband and 10-year-old son.
“”I appreciate this help very much,” Uzbek said, through an interpreter. ••
