One of The Good Registry’s newest partner charities, Auckland Refugee Family Trust has received its first birthday pledge! We spoke with Sam Blackley - who works with ARFT - about why she decided to say no to the usual gifts and instead ask for donations to help bring refugee families back together.
One of the hardest things to do is to settle and start a new life in New Zealand knowing that your family is overseas, potentially in a dangerous situation. ARFT assists in paying for flights to reunite families who have been split up after fleeing from unsafe situations in their home countries. They will help to pay for airfares for immediate family members of refugees living in New Zealand, who have been assessed and granted a visa and residency permit by New Zealand Immigration Services.
Between 2010 and 2018, ARFT was able to reunite 50 families thanks to donations — and now your donations through The Good Registry can help with that work.
Enabling refugee families to reunite has a massive impact on their lives, Sam says. Not only can they escape whatever drove them to leave their homeland, but they can build a new life here and call New Zealand home, as a family.
“It’s a remarkable thing to do and it is quite literally life changing. There is a direct association between the money raised and bringing the families together.”
Sam has created a birthday registry with The Good Registry to raise funds for ARFT because she experiences first-hand what the donations do and the impact ARFT’s services have on the families it helps.
“My family and friends know how much this charity means to me, and it’s a cause that is really close to my heart.”
Sam’s birthday is on August 28th (and her registry will be open 10 days after this). If you’d like to gift a donation, not just for her birthday, but to help reunite separated families, feel free to do so here.
To learn more about the Auckland Refugee Family Trust, visit their website. Or if you’d like a simple way to help them to reunite refugee families, you can do that at The Good Registry.
We have created two simple ways to give:
- Create your own Good Registry for a special event (e.g. a wedding or a birthday - like Sam has) and ask friends to donate to a charity you choose, instead of buying gifts.
- Give Good Gift Cards instead of traditional gifts, to enable others to make donations to charities they care about.
You can hear from people who have used Good Registries and Good Gift Cards to help charities like RASNZ, on our inspirational Giving Wall.
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