Help Refugees Arriving in Austin

We are Austin Jews & Partners for Refugees (AJPR), a non-profit organization started by Russ Apfel and his wife, Nancy Wolf, in 2021. Russ and Nancy and a handful of volunteers formed our group to support the 1,500+ refugees who arrived in Austin after the evacuation from Afghanistan. Since then, our work has grown to encompass refugees from other countries including Iraq, Venezuela, and several African countries.

Russ suddenly passed away in October of 2023. He was a beloved member of our community. In addition to running AJPR, he also handled all of our fundraising efforts. We as an organization are looking at new ways to raise funds to support refugees arriving in Austin.

We expect between 9 and 18 new refugee families arriving in Austin before the end of December. For arriving families we provide new beds, a week’s worth of groceries, and a complete setup of household and hygiene items to support each family before they fully get on their feet.

The average cost per family is $1,500-$2,000. Our goal for this GoFundMe campaign is to raise a total of $30,000 to cover these costs. Any funds collected beyond this amount will be used to help families who arrive in subsequent months.

We would love any financial or volunteer support you might provide. And please feel free to share this fundraiser on your social networks.

If you’d like to learn more, visit our website or check out our Facebook group .