Catherine McCauley Center forms new partnership to help furnish refugee housing

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - The Catherine McAuley Center has started a new partnership with the Central Furniture Rescue to try and help furnish housing for refugees fleeing their home countries.

Mitch Geer, the CMC Supplemental Services Manager said they noticed the problem after struggling to house 312 Afghan refugees. CFR would now help to give furniture to those coming to the US, and the Catherine McAuley Center would help move the donated furniture. Sadiki Ndayisaba and his family were one of the first families.

“We left the Democratic of Congo because of a lack of security,” he said.

Geer said this additional help allows them to focus more on other ways to find housing and get necessary resources.

“I’ve been able to do a lot more outreach for events reaching out to the community to see if people wanted to host a food drive,” he said.

CFR has helped about 9-families. Susan Johnston, the founder of the nonprofit, said this had been in the works for a while. The organization was already focusing on furnishing housing for people getting out of homelessness and for women seeking safety. She said this was a perfect partnership to help families like Ndayisaba’s continue to rebuild their lives.

“The next step for us is to find jobs so we can be more stable,” he said.

Copyright 2022 KCRG. All rights reserved.