Winter Kits for adults & children — The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is asking for help in putting together winter kits for newly arrived refugees. IRC is one of our community partners and we have supported their mission in many ways, but especially through the “Mommy and Me” program.

With so many Afghan families arriving in Sacramento at once, there is an overwhelming need in a very short time to assemble Winter Kits for newly arrived refugees over the age of 13. (50 kits total: 25 kits for boys and men and 25 for girls and women, in small, medium and large sizes).

These are the items for a completed kit:
• 1 umbrella
• 1 blanket
• 1 coat (preference for sizes M/L
• 1 package of socks
• 1 pair of gloves
• 1 winter hat
• 1 scarf

How can each of us help?

• Buy items for making up many of the kits or buy all the items for one kit. If you are donating a complete kit, please bring it to the church in a clear plastic container indicating the gender and size. Volunteers at UUSS will fill out the donation forms that will accompany each completed kit.
• Monetary donations will enable volunteers to buy items to assemble kits (and this will augment the donations received for Refugee Welcome Kits through the Fund-a-Need Marketplace for the Fall Gratitude Celebration.) (Checks payable to UUSS; memo “Refugees.”
• Bring your donations to church on Sunday, Nov. 28 and Dec. 12. Volunteers will be staffing tables in the Welcome Hall to receive your items. You can also drop them off at the UUSS office 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Serve as a volunteer for receiving the donations on the designated Sundays or help us put together the kits to prepare them for delivery to the IRC.
This is a wonderful opportunity to make the lives of our new neighbors a bit cheerier as the holiday season approaches and to support our UUSS Mission: We come together to deepen our live and be a force for healing in the world.

Contact Meg Burnett by email at or telephone (see the UUSS Directory) if you have questions or would like to help with this humanitarian project.