Paxton International supports Syrian refugees

Paxton International is actively involved in the Syrian Refugee Project, providing a range of support including donations of boxes, time, manpower, trucking, storage, consolidation and transportation since 2013.

We find out how global relocation, information and logistic management services company Paxton International continues to helps refugees affected by the Syrian Civil War.

Relocate Editorial

30 January 2020

Mary K. Paxton, Paxton Customer Service Manager, accepts gift of thanks from the NOVA Relief Center for Paxton’s longtime support of the Syrian Refugee Blanket and Coat Drive. Paxton is actively involved in this humanitarian effort, providing a range of support including donations of boxes, time, man power, trucking, storage, consolidation and transportation since 2013.

Mark Gibb, NOVA Relief Center, presents Mary K. Paxton with gift as thanks for Blanket & Coat Drive

Paxton's involvement began after a delegation of elected officials from Northern Virginia traveled to Turkey as guests of the American Turkish Friendship Association and visited a Syrian refugee camp. Here, they received a glimpse into the lives of those affected by the Syrian Civil War - a conflict described as “the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world” with a reported 6 million people displaced within Syria and another 5 million seeking haven as refugees, especially in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan since the conflict began in 2011.

Blanket & Coat drive

NOVA Relief Center chairman, Sharon Bulova explains these refugees' experiences in The Connection, “To say they had nothing would be an understatement. We discovered that these were normal, average, everyday people – policemen, firemen, teachers [who] through no fault of their own, had become refugees of this tragic war... They were all in need of the basic necessities – food, water, clothing. We were invited to go to one man's tent who had a family of four children. There was nothing in the tent except for some old ground covering rugs. As we talked to this man through a translator, we asked... how we could help... He told us it was getting cold. Could we send him some blankets? That broke our hearts.”

Bill Paxton & Rebecca Good

When the delegation returned home to the United States, they launched the first Blanket Drive in coordination with other organisations. In the years since Paxton has taken an active role in tandem with many other partners to ensure Syrian refugees overseas received the 300,000+ blankets and coats collected over the years. At times, we have delivered as many as 4,000 boxes to 50 collection sites, collected them and received an additional 700 boxes for staging in our warehouse. Donations from 2019 were distributed to three camps in Jordan: Mafraq, Jerash and Irbid. “This is an effort near and dear to our hearts at Paxton, hitting close to both our communities at home and our operations abroad in the Middle East. We are just so grateful to help where we can,” says Mary K. Paxton, customer service manager.Citation: Hobson, Mercia. “The Greatest Humanitarian Crisis in the World.” The Connection [Fairfax Station] 5-11 December 201: 6. Print.