Piles of cots, secondhand clothing and shoes lay stacked in storage units a short drive from the Syrian border.abercrombie and fitch bracelets for sale Aid workers bustled through a nearby building, packing bagged bread and canned food for Syrian refugees seeking shelter from mounting violence that has terrorized their lives and homes several miles north of here.By Khalil Mazraawi, AFP/Getty ImagesMembers of a Syrian family who fled the violence in their country sit in a heated room Feb. 20 at a camp in Mafraq, near Jordan’s northern border with Syria.By Khalil Mazraawi, AFP/Getty ImagesMembers of a Syrian family who fled the violence in their country sit in a heated room Feb. 20 at a camp in Mafraq, near Jordan’s northern border with Syria.”We were with Bashar,” Manal Ahmad said, carrying her 2-year-old daughter as volunteers dropped off bread and blankets at her home in a poor part of town. “But when my husband was killed by the Syrian army, we turned against him.”Ahmad and her family have lived in an unheated apartment since fleeing the military assault on their home city of Homs ordered by Syrian President . Assad’s military has bombarded the city of about 1 million people for months to put down an uprising against his rule.STORY: PHOTOS: There is no work and little money, and the Jordanian government has hesitated to officially recognize refugees, so Syrians largely rely on help from aid organizations and the hospitality of generous strangers.Recently, a group of young Jordanian volunteers arrived in a motorcade of cars and SUVs at Ahmed’s home. They delivered food, used clothing and cots and blankets to families faced with the chill of Jordan’s winter when temperatures drop into the 30s at night.Volunteer Khaled Ghanem of Mafraq’s Islamic Charity Center Society said five to 10 new families come through the city each day. Roughly 4,000 people, or 750 families, are registered with the Islamic center, which helps refugees pay their rent and provides meals. Safe zoneMany of the refugees live in spartan accommodations. Raja Juma’a, 25, escaped the besieged city of Baba Amr with her husband and seven children three months ago. She pays 100 Jordanian dinars per month ($140) to live in a run-down part of town where narrow dirt streets are colored by litter.”More and more people are coming,” Ghanem says. Inside the center, a bulletin board reading “Attention, Syrian brothers” greets refugees, listing offers of housing and meager work as they enter.Refugees are nothing new to Jordan. The country has long been a safe zone for people fleeing conflict in the . The desert kingdom has nearly 2 million Palestinians, some living in camps that have existed for decades. As many as 1 million Iraqis have fled to Jordan since the Gulf War in 1991, and hospitals in Amman have treated more than 37,000 Libyans since last July.”We should and we will welcome any refugees coming to our country as long as they are escaping from the fear of death,” said Ibrahim Abou Ezz, a leader of the ‘s political arm – the Islamic Action Front – in Aqaba. Syria and Jordan have a history of shared land, which ended when the Middle East was partitioned after World War I. After the 20th-century conflict between the world’s most forceful powers, Jordanian and Syrian territories split into separate states – a consequence of the ‘s fall. Today, the two nations import and export goods across their shared border, and Jordanians say Syria is a vital passageway for products moving through the region.”There is a lot of interest and a lot of commercial relations between Syria and Jordan,” said Mahmoud Al-Ees, director of planning at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. “Syria is a transit country for Jordan. A lot of our goods come from the Syrian [ports].”In addition to challenges posed by diplomatic ties, the possibility of refugees flooding into Jordan threatens to further strain the nation’s limited resources. Jordanian King Abdullah II was the first Arab leader to call on Bashar Assad to step down.”Jordan has to offer food, electricity and water for free,” Al-Ees said, noting that Jordan is already experiencing a crisis due to an increase in energy costs. For years, there has been a water shortage.’Shouting for help’Once reluctant to officially recognize the growing refugee predicament, Jordan’s government is in the process of establishing a formal camp with the help of the refugee agency. More than 80,000 refugees have crossed the Syria-Jordan border, Jordanian officials have told the Associated Press, though lawmaker Mamdouh Al-Abbadi says some figures have been inflated to make the situation look more dire than it is to increase potential for outside funding.There are “maybe not more than 5,000 [refugees], I am sure,” Al-Abbadi says.An additional 14,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon, according to the High Commission for Syrian Relief, an opposition group. In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, refugees are supported by associations such as Al-Bashaer, a Sunni group that donates money, clothing and medicine to Syrian families and helps them find places to live. “The refugees here are shouting for help,” said Wassim Bachir of Al-Bashaer, or the Syrian Refugee Committee. “There is no status as refugees for them in Lebanon,” unlike in Turkey where camps are established.Though the living situation for refugees may be difficult in Jordan, some are grateful for assistance in any form.”The local community has been very good to us,” says Ghada Farawi who escaped Homs with her family more than three weeks ago. “And we should tell the truth about that.”Contributing: Karine Barzegar from Beirut