Your in-kind donations help refugees, asylees, survivors of trafficking, unaccompanied children and other New Americans by providing essential tools to thrive at work, school and home.
Organize a Housing Donation Drive (Paused)
December 2021 Update: Between completed and in-progress Housing Donation Drives, our immediate needs for this opportunity are fulfilled through February 2022. Thank you!
- We still need drive organizers, but not until mid to late February 2022: If you have not started, please wait to begin your Housing Donation Drive. More organizers are needed, but the Institute does not have available capacity to store drives for clients arriving in 2022 (due to our return to 1694 Como Avenue in March). Please stay tuned to the Institute’s monthly e-newsletter for updates, or reach out to the Institute after March 7, 2022 to express interest in starting a Housing Donation Drive.
- If you have already started collecting items for your Housing Donation Drive: Please continue collecting items and proceed with the steps below.
In the upcoming year, the International Institute of Minnesota will be welcoming newly arrived refugee families from around the world, including those from Afghanistan. You can help support this work by organizing a Housing Donation Drive. Drive organizers play an essential role in welcoming new families by sourcing a complete set of donations from friends, family or through service opportunities.
Housing Donation Drive Organizers:
- Commit to collecting a complete set of essential items that a family needs on move-in day. Please click here to view or print the list of supplies needed for each donation drive.
- A complete set includes at least 92 items. Some of those are larger items like bedding sets, but 25 of them are clothes hangers!
- We also provide a list of “bonus items” like baking sheets and rugs that are helpful, but not required for a set to be considered complete.
- Online wish lists, Facebook/Instagram/Venmo fundraisers, or in-person collection boxes may be useful strategies for bringing community into your project.
- Sort and count supplies, checking for quality to ensure they are fit for distribution.
- Once all items have been collected, schedule a donation drop-off by contacting Cori Ertz at CErtz@iimn.org or 651-377-8662
- Due to the Institute’s COVID-19 policy and use of temporary space while our Como Ave building is being renovated, we do not have staff available for unscheduled drop off.
- Deliver the complete set of items to the Institute’s temporary location at your scheduled time (700 Raymond Ave, Suite 100 Saint Paul, MN 55114)
For more information, please contact Cori Ertz at CErtz@iimn.org or 651-377-8662
