For the last few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time at the Tucson Refugee Center. It started when Pastor Adam took me there several weeks ago so that I could take a sewing machine I was donating to them. I looked around and saw some other needs.

My church has a free boutique. People donate stuff and take stuff out of it every week. I told the woman in charge of the boutique, Terri, about the needs I saw, so she loaded my car so full that Mark and I looked like we were living out of our car. He said the shocks weren’t good enough to hold that much. We had all sorts of clothing, stuff for their sewing room, and some things people might need for their apartments, like kitchenware and dishes. When I had taken my sewing machine in and said that I had had it serviced before bringing it, the manager, Rhonda, said that a couple of people had donated broken sewing machines, so when I had Mark with me, we asked about the broken machines. Rhonda gave us one to check out and Mark took it apart to see what it needed. He cleaned it and fixed it as best he could, but it needed a belt to be replaced and he couldn’t find one for that aged machine anywhere. Today, he and I went to a pawn shop and got one for $35 that needs a plug and foot pedal, but it’s in good working condition, so we bought it. He’s ordered a new plug and foot pedal for it.

Word has gotten out about the needs of the refugee center. Terri has nearly cleaned out the boutique and taken tons of stuff to them. She has talked to others who have donated more things like clothes, blankets, kitchen items (including a microwave), pictures, etc. Last week, another woman in the church, Alyssa, wanted to come and see the place, so she came with us and said she would be interested in volunteering there. Today, Mark and I picked up a retired Wycliffe missionary who speaks Swahili, Naomi, and wanted to go and see if she could find any Swahili speakers. This time, I got some pictures:

While Naomi was speaking with the refugees, I hung clothes on the rack. Those go fairly fast! The center is only open on Wednesdays and Fridays, so we keep replenishing the racks and they keep getting thinned out.

Terri and I are thinking about going through their vetting process to become volunteers so that we can maybe teach a beginner sewing class. I spoke to the volunteer coordinator today and she’ll send us the requirements we need to meet. Since I haven’t been able to start the abuse recovery group yet, this has been a good way for me to minister to the community.