Helping Refugees Make a Home in the Madison Area

How You Can Help Ukrainian Refugees
  • Karen Cornwell, Sewing Machine Lady
    ODFR’s “sewing machine lady” is Karen Cornwell, who for years has been gifting newly arrived refugees, seniors, and low-income individuals with sewing machines via a variety of organizations. “It comes in spurts,” she says. “In the past couple months, working with JSS and ODFR, I think we’ve delivered 20 machines to women from Afghanistan, the […]
  • Karen Cornwell, Sewing Machine Lady
    ODFR’s “sewing machine lady” is Karen Cornwell, who for years has been gifting newly arrived refugees, seniors, and low-income individuals with sewing machines via a variety of […]
  • Leslie Field, Jeff Lindholm, and Barbara Forrest, all volunteers, plus Kathy Lyon
    ODFR Warehouses: 5 Things You Never Knew
    ODFR couldn’t operate without its warehouses: when newcomer families arrive with little notice, ODFR & JSS volunteers collaborate, setting up apartments fast with donated furniture and housewares […]
  •  Long Road to a Dream Job
    In his eloquent appearance on Channel 3000 to promote the 2023 Freeze for Food, Farhan A. shared the eight-year-long road to his dream job as a microbiologist at […]
  • The Setup Team
    Upcoming Volunteer Needs
    Interested in helping out? Send an email to volunteers@odfr.org. Helping with Housewares A volunteer is needed to be part of a small team responsible for cleaning and […]

How You Can Help Refugees in the Madison Area

Open Doors for Refugees is an all-volunteer organization whose mission is to help refugees make a home in the Madison area.

Make a Financial Contribution

With the support of the Madison community, Open Doors collects furnishings and sets up apartments, and provides translation, transportation, ESL, childcare, and employment services for arriving refugees. Additionally, each year the Events Team hosts or co-hosts four major annual events and a handful of one-off events, either for the refugee community or the community at large.

Upcoming & Past Events