A total of 37,000 Afghan evacuees are expected tofind new homes in communities across the country in the coming weeks. Delaware expects to welcome ten families.
The AP reports this is few compared to other states—some of which are expected to welcome thousands of evacuees.
Staff with Jewish Family Services of Delaware, the only resettlement agency in the First State, say they’ll help these ten families—or 30 individuals— find things like housing, healthcare and language resources.
Rosi Crosby, chief strategy officer at Jewish Family Services, says available housing is the limiting factor in how many people the organization can help.
“Until we can ensure that at least the approximately ten families we will be welcoming through the Afghan Parolee Assistance Program have stable and secure housing, we won’t be able to expand the number of people that come to our state,” she said.
Crosby says JFS will reevaluate whether they can welcome additional Afghan families in March 2022.
“I’m 100% certain that these families will be welcomed and taken care of until they can be on their own,” Crosby said. “It’s going to be through the generosity of our Delaware community. That’s everything from faith-based organizations to the private companies, to Jewish Family Services’ outreach and fundraising, to church donations and collections.”
“Everyone I think understands that the Afghani people who are coming here fled for their lives and, while they were in Afghanistan, took care of Americans,” she added. “There's something really special about that.”
Gov. John Carney said Friday he’d spoken with former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who’s Biden’s liaison on resettling the Afghan evacuees. Carney says the state is ready to support resettlements.
“After twenty years of war in Afghanistan, rooting out Al Qaeda and the terrorists, we have a responsibility to support and help our supporters in that effort,” Carney said.
