DENVER — Team Rubicon is working to ensure hundreds of Afghan refugees in Colorado have what they need to help get settled in their new community.
With the help of community partners like the Red Cross and Salvation Army, Team Rubicon has launched Operation Landing Eagle in an effort to get refugees basic household items and furniture, like cribs, tables, dishes and dressers.
Since August, they've helped around 1,200 Afghan refugees get settled into a new life in Colorado, many with families and young children.
Their goal is to set up 75 homes for refugees.
Jordon Daniel is a U.S. Navy veteran who worked closely with Afghan interpreters and he’s now a volunteer for Team Rubicon. He says being able to help these refugees on Veterans Day feels like a full circle moment.
“This is a chance for us to help those that helped us. After 20 years of work coming to an end, all of these families, at one point or another, had someone in their family that supported coalition forces or they themselves supported coalition forces,” Daniel said. “Not all of them made it out.”
Team Rubicon says a critical part of its operations has been working with Microsoft's Cloud for Nonprofit, which allows staff have a real-time view of needs and inventory, to track and catalogue their donations, and more.
The nonprofit is expecting another 800 to 1,000 refugees will arrive in Colorado by the end of the year.
To volunteer to help or donate household items, click here.
Denver7 Executive Producer Alli Friedman and Anchor Jessica Porter contributed to this report.
