Refugees: Interactive map to show legitimate places to donate clothing

To prevent well-intentioned clothing donations from going to fraudulent, for-profit groups, residents are being urged to use a new,interactive map of drop-off points to ensureclothingreachesincoming refugees and otherOttawa residents in need.

Coun. Rick Chiarelli said he has been frustrated in the past by misleading clothing donation boxes, and a bylaw reviewwill take placein time for the arrival of refugees from Syria. He is now workingto direct donations tocharities in Ottawa that are experts at clothing collection, including St. Vincent de Paul, Ottawa Neighbourhood Servicesand the Salvation Army.

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The first four refugeesdestined forOttawa on a flight organized by the federal governmentwere to arriveinToronto Tuesday afternoon.Theyare expected to be followed by many more.

"But the clothing is rushing in much fasterand will become a bit of an avalanche over the next few weeks," said Chiarelli, who also announced that a central space has been donated to store the excess clothing for when morerefugees arrive.

The head of the umbrella groupRefugee 613 said she's thrilled local charities are taking on the collection ofclothing for refugeesbecause her organization and settlement agencies aren't set up to receive donated goods.

"The public is killing us with kindness right now," said Louisa Taylor, who described having alogistical challenge becausemanygood-hearted peopleare collecting clothes for refugees and contacting her group.

Instead, she wants residents to use the map locatortoolnot callRefugee 613 or settlement agencies.

"We need folks to connect directly with the charities that are in this business, and know how to make sure the donations get to the right place," she said.

Student group to welcome refugees grows quickly

Dozens of students from a new non-profit organization called Capital Welcomes are expected to help sort clothing at thestorage location. They also hope to create a buddy system to help government-sponsored refugees adjust to life in Canada, including learning to find a job and use OC Transpo.

University of Ottawa studentSarah Abood created a Facebook page in mid-November to organize friends who might help her eventually welcome refugees at the airport. Within a few hours, her Facebookpage had 500 likes. Within a week, Abood and her friends Soumaya Ben Ali, whose parents were refugees, and Jess Touhey had become an incorporated not-for-profit organizationwith larger goals.

At their first event at their university, they had200 volunteers sign on to help, andcollected about 4,000 articles of clothing and household items, which Abood put in herparents' garage and basement, to her mother's surprise.

"She's being really cool about it now, but thankfully, Coun. Chiarelli got us a storage space," said Abood, adding Capital Welcomes will hold a sorting event this weekend.