Registry with a difference

Abdal and Rebecca are a young couple with a heart of gold who recently got married. They didn’t want the wedding to be just about themselves, so they came up with a unique and generous idea – a gift registry for former refugees.

When refugees arrive in New Zealand, New Zealand Red Cross is the main organisation helping them settle in the country. Red Cross has teams of social workers, cross cultural workers and hundreds of volunteers helping new Kiwi families start a life in Aotearoa. A key thing they do is setting up the house for the former refugees, before they arrive in their new town. For that, their volunteers collect items/furniture/etc. to turn the house into a home.

Abdal and Rebecca got in touch with the Hamilton Red Cross office to find out what families usually need when they arrive. Then, they set up an online gift registry to collect gifts on behalf of former refugees. Abdal and Rebecca received 200 gifts worth around $3,000 from their wedding guests – these included items such as microwaves, vacuum cleaners, plates, toasters, children’s bicycles, cutlery and duvet sets.