Many thanks to our shoppers and volunteers who made our 2023 sale a big success. We reached our goal of raising $150,000!

As Saint’s Place celebrates its 25th year in Rochester helping legal refugees to adapt to their new home, the non-profit is on track to welcome a record number of refugees, including hundreds of Ukrainians displaced by war. 

Since July 2022, Saint’s Place has assisted 450 Ukrainians and throughout the past year helped hundreds more from other countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Venezuela, Haiti, Sudan and those displaced by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Saint’s Place expects to aid a record number of refugees, approximately 1,200, from July 2022 through June 2023 and help an even larger number for the next fiscal year. 

“Our annual super sale is our biggest fundraiser and it’s more important than ever this year given the number of refugees we are serving and expect to serve,” said Isabel Miller, executive director of Saint’s Place. “The monies raised go to purchase new beds and mattresses, winter clothing and boots, and other items for the refugees. Most refugees arrive in Rochester with just the clothes on their backs. Within days of arriving in Rochester, they visit the Saint’s Place Clothing Closet and leave with bags of clothes that they’ve picked out for all four seasons of the year. They also move into an apartment fully furnished by Saint’s Place.”
 

The Super Sale, which is Saint’s Place’s largest fundraiser of the year, will take place at the St. Louis Church campus, 64 S. Main Street in Pittsford. Shoppers will have access to great deals on purses, jewelry, dishes, glassware, small kitchen appliances, furniture, linens, electronics, books, toys, sporting goods, bikes, clothing and collectible items, all donated by the Rochester community. 

“Last year, we raised $150,000 through the Super Sale, and we hope to exceed that this year,” said Michele Quinn, associate director at Saint’s Place. “Our costs for items like new beds and gasoline to power our truck and van have gone way up. Our dollar doesn’t go as far as it did previously.” 

Saint’s Place continues to help refugees further their education to lift them out of poverty through its Educational Initiative Program. Since the program launched in 2018, Saint’s Place has awarded more than $240,000 in scholarships for college and vocational training, textbooks and school fees, along with laptops so students can do homework and take courses online. Every refugee family now receives a computer to use for job searches and to learn English. Tools needed to secure jobs have been given to students who have graduated with certification from auto mechanic and electrical programs. Recognizing that there are jobs available for commercial truck drivers, Saint’s Place is starting a new program to pay for refugees to obtain driver’s licenses and commercial truck driving licenses.

Saint’s Place continues to look for innovative ways to assist refugees. A new program gives washers and dryers to large refugee families as the cost of doing laundry at a laundromat is out of reach. 

Saint’s Place operates the largest clothing closet in the Rochester area, located on the campus of St. John of Rochester Church in Fairport. The agency also has a large truck, a new van, a warehouse with more than 7,000 square feet, and more than 120 active volunteers and another 100 for special projects. Since 1998, Saint’s Place has provided free tutoring to refugees (adults and children) at various locations. Saint’s Place is a joint ministry of St. Louis Church in Pittsford and St. John of Rochester Church.