Estee Lauder Provides Donations for Afghan Women

Hearts & Homes for Refugees was contacted by One World One Love, a grassroots nonprofit organization that assists refugees resettling in New Jersey, with a request was unusual in the refugee assistance world: cosmetics!

But this was for good reason. More than 11,000 Afghan evacuees were being housed at the military base and One World One Love’s goal was to get them not just essentials but also items that would help bring a sense of normalcy and dignity to the women being held there.

Hearts & Homes took the request to its network and got connected with The Estee Lauder Companies’ Kathy Martilla. She and Rachel Tulchin were instrumental in arranging for a donation of 6000 items: 2000 each of mascara, black eyeliner and lip gloss.

The journey was long: Estee Lauder shipped the 109 cartons of product on November 15, 2021 to the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton where the boxes were to then be moved to Fort Dix with the help of a member of the mosque who is also a NJ state trooper. Due to COVID-related delays and congested delivery schedules at the base, the shipment was not accepted until January. But the cosmetics were then quickly distributed to the salons on the base. (The camp is divided into three villages, each with its own “mayor” and each with its own services including salons.)

Here are photos of the products being received. For security purposes, we cannot show photos of the Afghan refugee women receiving the products but we hear messages of great appreciation. We echo that heartfelt gratitude to OneWorldOneLove for their tireless efforts and to our friends at Estee Lauder for their overwhelming generosity!