ROME -- The Joel Nafuma Refugee Centre plays an integral role in providing a range of services to refugees in Rome and relies very much on the support of the public. In the midst of a global refugee crisis, this year’s Christmas Gift Appeal is a concrete way that your family, faith community, school, or organisation can be part of a local response and solution.

 The appeal provides gifts for people in need during a season of giving. It doesn’t cost a lot of money, it is fun to do, and you can start straight away, encouraging all who participate to reflect upon the gifts we have and what it means to be poor and alone at a time when so many people are enjoying festivities with families and friends.

 The Centre is asking businesses, church communities, families, organisations, classrooms and entire schools to make up gift bags for refugees and the poor in Rome. As in the past, all gifts will be organised into equal gift bags so it is very important to leave donated parcels open and not decorated. Any messages of encouragement and solidarity from donors will also go into the gift bags and are welcomed.

 The gift bags will be given to refugees who come to the JNRC at the annual Christmas party on Dec. 23. Extra bags and gifts will be distributed to JNRC guests from the supply room in the months to come. The vast majority of the JNRC beneficiaries are men.

 How it works:

•Start by having fun choosing from our list of gift ideas. Most gifts can simply be added to your trolley in the supermarket…

•Be selective – you don’t need to include everything listed to make a wonderful contribution.

•All items should be new, there should be at least one item from each list: Clothing, Hygiene and Miscellaneous.

•Feel free to be creative, but please don’t include expensive or large items. In this case small is beautiful. A big number of small items can help many more people than a few large costly ones. Woolly hats, gloves, socks, scarves and boxers are ok. Larger items of clothing do not fit into the gift bags and can be donated at any time throughout the year to the JNRC.

Some examples of great gifts:

Men’s gloves (The guests of the JNRC are men and male minors)

Men’s hats

Scarves

Men’s socks

Combs

Lip salve

Razors

Small bars of soap

Tissues

Travel size bottles of shampoo

Toothbrushes

Travel size toothpastes

Chewing gum

Candy or chocolate bars

Small notebooks

Pens

Playing cards

Gifts may be dropped off at St. Paul’s Within the Walls Episcopal Church, the site of the JNRC:

•Each weekday between the hours of 10a.m. and 15:30p.m at the office, Via Napoli 58 (ring office);

•Each Sunday in the back of church before the start of the 10:30a.m. service;

•Saturday, Dec. 10 at the JNRC’s Holiday Market, from 10:00a.m. to 17:00p.m.;

•To make special arrangements for drop-off, please contact: jnrc@stpaulsrome.it

The deadline for donations to be included in this Christmas gift project is Sunday, Dec. 18, 2016.

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