Last week, Oklahoma State University announced its partnership with Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma to aid in relocating up to 40 Afghan families.
Offers of help from students, faculty and community members to volunteer in resettling Afghan families has poured into Randy Kluver’s email, so fast he isn't able to respond to them all.
Kluver, the dean of the School of Global Studies and Partnerships at OSU, said there are already over 100 volunteers offering to help do anything from teaching to watching children.
“It’s just been overwhelming to see the campus community respond the way they have,” Kluver said. “And students you know, many of whom don’t have a lot of money, say ‘I don’t have any money I can contribute, but can I contribute some time? Can I contribute some labor? What can I do to help?’ It’s just been really, really heartening.”
Because of the housing vacancy brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Kluver said the university, in coordination with Housing and Residential Life, has 25 apartments for the families to use.
Although housing is available, Kluver said they are still focusing on meeting the other needs like providing English as a second language training through the English Language and Intercultural Center, and transportation. He said the university is able to match up the resources OSU has in place for the community and students to also help the families adjust to life in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
“You know, this is what a great university does, we help our students understand the world,” Kluver said. “This is a time of just huge need for these families, many of whom are completely traumatized, they’ve left behind everything many of them still have family members that they don’t expect to ever see again.”
The families are expected to start trickling in around Nov. 1.
Leon McClinton, the director of Housing and Residential Life at OSU, said the conversation to partner with Catholic Charities to help resettle the families began about a month ago.
McClinton said when he was approached by Kluver to see if there was any housing available. McClinton said he felt the university could accommodate them. When he informed the students at the last Residence Halls Association (RHA) meeting, they were thrilled.
“The students at RHA got extremely excited,” McClinton said. “The day after (the meeting) I had one of the representatives email me that their community, Villages A, C and D, are interested in making OSU tie fleece blankets,” McClinton said.
Multiple volunteers are stepping up and McClinton said they are directing them, along with anyone who wants to donate items, to sign up online.
Because the university is expecting families, McClinton said there will be programs for the children through the Family Resource Center. This center is like a community hub for families and graduate students.
Through the programs, McClinton said they are working on training people to become assistants to help the families get acclimated to their new environment.
“Whenever you’re new to a community, you have questions, you need to have somebody that can support you and be a resource,” McClinton said.
More information on volunteer opportunities and how to donate items can be found here.
