Volunteers Prepare Welcome Baskets For Afghan Refugees Moving To Tulsa

Volunteers are teaming up with a Tulsa organization to provide meals and groceries to Afghan refugees as they relocate to the city. Inside the baskets include letters written in their language welcoming them to Tulsa and giving information on reheating meals.

Volunteers with Food on the Move, an organization focused on tackling food insecurity in the Tulsa metro, have been working almost every day on the baskets. Kevin Harper, executive director of Food on the Move, said they are serving about 30 refugees right now but expect the number to be nearly 800 in the coming months.

Food on the Move and its volunteers are providing three meals a day for refugees as they arrive and get settled into Tulsa hotels. Harper said the organization talked with groups in Tulsa to make sure the meals they are leaving are culturally relevant.

“One day they’re sitting in their house at home and the next thing they have everything they have in a trash bag and now they’re in Tulsa, Oklahoma,” said Harper.

Patricia Pineda and her daughter are some of the volunteers making baskets and helping with deliveries.

“We are very glad that we’re able to help in any which way we can,” said Pineda. “We know what it is to be without a home, we know what it is to be hungry, so anything we can do to welcome anyone with open arms, we are more than happy to support.”

For more information about Food on the Move and Operation Welcome Home, Click Here.