So far this year we have seen the crypto community stand up to support the welcoming of our new neighbors through the donation of $40,000 from six different cryptocurrencies. But in 2022, we want to make cryptocurrency a part of our organizational structure. The crypto community’s belief in our vision of harnessing the energy of and investing in the people of goodwill at the grassroots has helped build our foundation, and now we look to them to continue as a part of our ever-growing structural future.

Hundreds of refugees will be warm and dry this winter thanks to volunteers and organizations from throughout the Lower Hudson Valley who came together for the Winter Coat & Boot Drive led by both Hearts & Homes for Refugees and Neighbors for Refugees. What a huge success! Thanks to overwhelming volunteer and donor support, we were able to serve over 750 refugees.

In February 2021, Worldwide Documentaries, a not-for-profit documentary film company based in Rochester, New York, released Oh Mercy - Searching for Hope in the Promised Land. Worldwide Documentaries and Hearts & Homes share a mutual mission to educate people to welcome refugees and positively change attitudes, understanding and public acceptance of forcibly displaced populations.

Talented, local teen Maya Mukherjee was quoted by Nicholas Kristof of the The New York Times , in his May 19 newsletter. We have been so lucky to work with Maya, who is a student at the United Nations International School in NYC. She founded the STAR Project, a club at her school which seeks to support refugees in the US and overseas, and they have contributed generously to our Winter Drive and Personal Products Drive. In the article she submitted to Kristof, she talks about the importance of communities in welcoming refugees, and how teenagers can be involved.

It was at the start of 2018, that Maggie made her first monthly donation to Hearts & Homes for Refugees and became our first monthly donor. She said she decided on monthly giving, “because it was something I really want to commit to - people who are doing the kind of work that Hearts & Homes for Refugees is doing need to have the resources to do it well.”

From January 18, 2021 - the MLK Day of Service - through Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2021, Hearts & Homes for Refugees hosted a highly successful personal care products drive for refugee families and individuals facing financial difficulty during the pandemic.

A few highlights of the critical work of Hearts & Homes for Refugees in 2020!

In November, Hearts & Homes was thrilled to launch our first ever online art auction. Local artist and Hearts & Homes for Refugees’ Board member Lori Kapner Hosp created and donated a collection of 28 original paintings entitled ‘Glimpses of Places They Called Home.’

How does Hearts & Homes make it all happen? Volunteers breathe life into all our visions of ways to help our new neighbors resettle here and build new lives.