We are the Eagles Supporting the International Rescue Committee. Our names are Jenna Chan, Caleb Murphey, Brenda Nguyen Santana, Faith Kiefert, and Atin Wright and together we hope to bring awareness and raise funds for the IRC who is helping meet the basic needs of many refugees around the world and in the U.S.A.
Refugees are at camps for years and even up to decades while they await the chance to rebuild their lives in a new country. Camps fail to meet the basic needs of food, water, electricity, and shelter of all of those seeking safety and it is organizations like the IRC and donors such as yourselves that can help bridge the gap in basic needs that are deserved by everyone.
Who is the International Rescue Committee?
The IRC works in more than 50 countries and 28 U.S. cities responding to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, helping people to survive, recover, and restore their lives after being shattered by conflict and disaster.
The IRC is committed to helping refugees by providing relief like food, water, and medical care where it’s needed most, along with the critical long-term support families need.
Why We are Fundraising
The International Rescue Committee believes that everyone deserves the safety and security of home, and the Eagles Supporting the IRC couldn't agree more. Our hope is that those fleeing from their homes can make it to safety and not experience the fate of people like Hind Rajab and her family who were killed while trying to escape an invasion.
In the early morning hours of January 29th, 2024, Hind Rajab and 6 of her family members left home in their Kia Picanto traveling north. At 9:30 am on January 29th, an Israeli spokesperson posted evacuation orders on social media instructing residents of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood to move south as Israeli forces invaded the area. Hind Rajab, along with 6 of her family members complied with orders and began to make their way south. However, satellite analysis of the area shows that the only road leading south of the area was blocked by debris from the recent bombing of a high-rise building. In an interview with Wissam Hamada, Hind’s mother, she says she witnessed shots being fired at the car from an intersection north of the home. After the shots, one of Hind’s family members, Layan Hamada, the only other surviving member in the car at the time, made a call to the Red Crescent pleading for help. After a series of audible shots, Layan can be heard screaming until her voice stops abruptly, twenty seconds into the call. Seconds before Layan Hamada is killed, she is heard saying, ‘They are firing at us, the tank is next to me’. According to an analysis of the recording by Earshot, a total of 64 gunshots can be heard, fired in just 6 seconds. 6-year-old Hind is now the sole survivor, trapped in a car with 6 other family members, all of whom have been killed by Israeli gunfire. The Palestinian Red Crescent dispatchers made intermittent contact with Hind via phone in which she can be heard pleading for her life and begging the paramedics to hurry. Permission for an ambulance to proceed to Hind’s location finally arrived at 5:40pm, shortly after sunset. Paramedics Yusuf al-Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun were dispatched in an ambulance from al-Ahli Hospital. They reached the car about 6pm and were shot at upon arrival, just before an explosion was heard by dispatch. 6-year-old Hind has now been trapped in a car surrounded by 6 of her dead relatives for most of the day with no one there to help her. Two weeks later, on February 10th, Hind’s body was found in the car alongside the bodies of her family members. The bodies of the paramedics, who had been missing since the evening they were dispatched to rescue Hind, were discovered in the ambulance about 50 meters away from the car. Forensic Architecture mapped a total of 335 bullet holes in the body of the Kia. No one, especially a 6-year-old child, deserves this fate (The Story of Hind Rajab). The IRC works diligently to procure and provide safety and security for people who face the threat of this reality every day.
Your donations will make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable men, women, and children the IRC is committed to helping.
*Any gifts donated to the IRC from now to August 31, 2024 up to $2,225,000 will be matched by generous donors.
Donations are being stewarded by the IRC, in the areas that will make the most impact.
Here are a few way’s donations helped people in 2023:
Admitted 578,963 children and 142,394 pregnant and lactating women to nutrition programs
Provided 10,687,491 primary health care consultations
Supported 227,779 children in IRC safe spaces and other protection programs
Built or rehabilitated water systems serving 2,828,438 people
The world is in an unprecedented state of disrepair with more people suffering than ever before. With two simultaneous genocides and civil wars bringing famine, displacement, and the threat of more genocide, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Haiti, and Palestine have millions of innocent people facing some of the worst humanitarian crises and brutal conditions our current generation has ever seen - with millions more already lost to these egregious circumstances. In Palestine, the official death toll has reached over 38,000, with nearly half of them being children, over 85,000 severely injured, and another 10,000 still unaccounted for (Palestinian Humanitarian Crisis). In the DRC, since 1997, approximately 6 million people have lost their lives while another 6 million are internally displaced over a decades long conflict, and all for the giant corporations that we rely on for our tech devices (The DRC Humanitarian Crisis). In Sudan, the actual numbers are still unclear however, it is estimated that between 30,000 and 150,000 innocent civilians were slaughtered so far. Nearly 18 million people are facing food insecurity with another 11 million being forced to flee their homes (Sudanese Humanitarian Crisis). In the wake of President Jovonel Moise’s assassination in 2021, Haiti has been plagued with gang violence that has forced tens of thousands of innocent victims from their homes. Furthermore, the head of the G9 gang alliance, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, has asserted, “If Ariel Henry doesn’t resign, if the international community continues to support him, we’ll be heading straight for a civil war that will lead to genocide.” (Haitian Humanitarian Crisis). While these respective crises are indeed devastating, they are not the only ones. With human rights abuses and humanitarian crises in countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, and Mali, and other countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger, and Myanmar standing on the precipice of all out violence, the international community has never been in more need of your help (Top 10 World Humanitarian Crises)
