Current Needs for Recent Arrivals
IWR depends on donations to provide refugees with important items when they arrive in our community.
We only accept items when we are able to distribute them directly to recently arrived families and individuals.
Contact Perdita Das from our Welcome Home Team at welcome.home@ithacawelcomesrefugees.org if you are interested in making a donation.
Help us welcome a new baby for one of our refugee families! Baby is due September 2026.
Purchase Baby Gifts from the Registry Here
*We are not collecting physical donations for the family at this time**
If you’re having trouble accessing or purchasing from our Amazon Baby Registry, please try refreshing the page, signing into your Amazon Account, using a different browser or device, or clearing your browser cache. If the issue continues Amazon Customer Service can assist directly with registry access and purchases.
Furniture and Household Items - Welcome Home Team
- FURNITURE & HOUSEHOLD ITEMS – As of 7/9/26 we are not accepting furniture donations, as our storage unit is full!
IWR only collects furniture and household items when we have a new family scheduled to arrive in Tompkins County, and join in our ‘Welcome Home’ program. It can sometimes be months or years between arrivals – so we are unable to collect furniture at all times. When we have new confirmed arrivals, we will release a request list with asks for specific furniture and household items that work in the housing we have secured for them.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS FOR HOUSEHOLD GOODS: We are grateful to Finger Lakes ReUse for their many years of collaboration in coordinating giftcards and vouchers for immigrants and families involved with IWR to purchase materials to outfit their homes.
Groceries & Food
- GIFT CARDS TO LOCAL GROCERY STORES – We are gratefully accept donations of grocery store Gift Cards in any amount that we then pass on to families we are working with who are struggling with food insecurity. Preferred grocery stores are those on public transportation routes (Aldi, Tops, Walmart, Wegmans, and GreenStar). Please note the amount on the face of gift cards and mail to Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, 315 N. Cayuga St., Ithaca, NY 14850.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS IN FOOD SECURITY: We also work with the Friendship Donations Network for additional food security options.
Donating Children's Clothing
If you are sorting baby/children’s clothing and baby gear your family has outgrown, please consider donating gently used items to the Mama Goose & Jillian’s Drawers store on Clinton Street and asking them to add any store credit to IWR’s account. This means a lot to IWR families with children as we can then give them gift cards that cover items of their choice from the store. Check the Mama Goose schedule for drop-off dates.
