Waterloo Times

The state of Iowa is poised to welcome at least 350 Afghan evacuees to the state in the near future.

The new residents are slated to be housed through programs such as Catholic Charities and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, KCRG reported. State officials are considering the New Haven Apartments in Des Moines as a potential landing spot.

“Does anyone in Iowa know about how folks can help Afghan Refugees allocated in the state,” Daakardior posted on Twitter Sept. 17. “Would be nice to at least donate to any organizations helping them!”

While currently reported to be at full capacity, the Des Moines apartment complex has a history of helping immigrants find their footing after arriving in the state.

"A lot of Congolese are here,” apartment manager Eric Fitzgerald told KCCI. “Certainly folks from lots of other countries where there's been big unrest. I know that as soon as we have apartments available there's a pipeline of people from Afghanistan they're trying to bring in and place. Having them get streamlined into mainstream society and have a bridge until they can work on their own is a critical piece."

With some evacuees having called the complex home for as long as four years as they do everything from learn financial literacy, get jobs and enroll their children into schools, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Kerri True-Frank said she doesn’t expect things to be any different this time around.

"When they get here, they're going to need a lot of the same services that refugees from all over the world need: help finding jobs, help finding housing, getting their kids in school and some of them will need to learn English," she added.