Long Island groups collect donations to aid Afghan refugees settling in tristate area

The 8,500 Afghan refugees who recently arrived at McGuire-Dix Air Force Base in New Jersey had only the clothes on their backs.

That’s why Long Island Islamic and Afghan officials collected more than $10,000 Friday as well as piles of donated new clothes, toys, packages of toiletries and other essentials.

The drive collected the donations at the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury to help the refugees start their new lives in the tristate area.

The campaign for clothes and toiletries was hosted by the Long Island-based Afghan Americans of New York just Friday, but they are accepting cash donations to support future refugees.

The group’s president Wazma Wardak Hassan said 8,500 refugees had already been evacuated, primarily to the New Jersey Air Force base. An additional 4,500 refugees have been approved and would be coming later to the United States, she said.

"Children are coming with the clothes on their back and right now we can’t distribute to them at the bases," Hassan said. "There’s no one to see the refugees when they enter."

The Islamic Center and Afghan Americans of New York are boxing supplies at a Long Island warehouse and shipping them to the Air Force base.

Donations include deodorant and other hygiene products, clothes for all ages, including headscarves, shoes, baby formula, toys and baby bottles.

Organizers loaded supplies in backpacks for distribution. She said all refugees should have a chance to receive new clothes and other necessities when they reached the United States.

She said the recent attacks in Kabul had brought aid to Afghanistan to a standstill.

"They’re coming to an unknown world with nothing more than a cot in an open area," Hassan said. "At least there’s not turmoil and danger of the Taliban and they have food and shelter. Their lives are on their backs and if they are moved to another base they can carry it [the backpack] with them."

The Islamic Center has helped victims of natural disasters, including both earthquakes in the last decade in Haiti, Islamic Center chairman Habeeb Ahmed said.

"We are always here to support where help is needed," Ahmed said.

Nazifa Anam Bakhtari, 29, of Woodbury, runs the Hicksville-based Aahu Barah, which imports dry fruit and rice from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

She was offering trucks and logistics Friday because she knows what help refugees need since she was granted political asylum from Afghanistan as a child.

"There are people in need and we want to answer the demand for help from our countrymen," Bakhtari said. "We want to show unity in the Afghan community. Any crisis like this hits home."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.