The International Women's Democracy Center

• $10,000 to continue Marina’s asylum case and begin one for her son
• $10,000 reimbursement to John and me for legal bills already paid
• $10,000 to cover apartment deposit and rent for several months, daily living expenses, emergency savings, and money to send to their family in their home country.

Bike with Mike to OPEN OUR FOOD PANTRY!

Farmer-activist Mike Tabor who is 70+ and his son Ben will do a 250-mile bike ride on the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh, PA to Hancock, MD, near his Licking Creek Bend Farm. Mike has committed to raise the necessary funds to open Feed The Family Food Pantry where he and his wife Esther Siegel have made a commitment to provide affordable produce to the DC community. More importantly, Mike's Bike ride will draw attention to the growing crisis of food insecurity across the mid-Atlantic region, and in particular our Nation’s Capital!

Mike wants to make sure that we “see the injustice and understand the impact of food insecurity” and know that he stands with the community of volunteers who are taking action to set up the Feed the Family Food Pantry!

Feed the Family Food Pantry will be located across from the University of the District of Columbia-UDC.  According to the Capital Area Food Bank, the census tract directly surrounding UDC has the highest incidence of food insecurity – defined by USDA as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life” -- in D.C.’s Ward 3: 11.2 % .
Please make a donation now to support Bike with Mike to help open a much needed food pantry for our neighbors who have lost their jobs and are struggling to put food on their tables every day!  Thank you in advance for your generosity!!


Feed the Family Food Pantry is a project of the International Women's Democracy Center which was established in 1995 to strengthen women's global leadership https://iwdc.org/

Imagine escaping the brutal terror of the Taliban where your death was certain if you worked with the Americans! Imagine leaving your home, your neighborhood, your family, your business and the only things you have ever known with only the clothes on your back! Then imagine flying 50+ hours with small children in those same clothes for weeks on end - changing planes multiple times with limited language skills and not knowing which country you were going to go to start your life over.  Then arriving in the US only to wait for months for promised help!  And wait and wait and wait! 

Imagine that!!  I can’t! None of us can imagine this scene in the wealthiest country in the world!

Over 40 Afghan families have been stranded at hotels near BWI since they arrived in October from the receiving center with little or no support from the federally funded resettlement agencies that are specifically tasked to provide initial benefits to help them settle into their new home country so that they can begin to rebuild their totally destroyed lives!  This is NOT the welcome that these Afghan families expected or deserve!  Many of these Afghans worked side-by-side for years with our government and military as interpreters, translators, drivers, project managers, and protectors then became the families away from home for our American troops welcoming them into their homes, sharing delicious traditional meals and being embraced as family. My family along with so many other Americans have been touched by the warm generosity and hospitable kindness of the Afghans. Now we have an extraordinary - once in a lifetime opportunity to say thank you and extend a helping hand of kindness and generosity as they struggle to start a new life in a new country in a new culture!  

These families have yet to receive Social Security cards, Medicaid, and SNAP.  They want to work yet they need help finding housing and employment.  This is the only way to begin to decrease the many months of trauma that they have experienced long before they boarded the plane in Kabul to escape the terror of the Taliban.

There are many school-aged children in the families who haven't been to school since they arrived in the US.  They have no means of transportation and zero access to healthcare!  There are a few pregnant women with due dates soon. They will surely go the emergency room for delivery, but this didn't have to happen. And they desperately need access to prenatal care!  Are the federally funded resettlement agencies initially responsible to provide assistance to help these refugee families? Yes.  Have they done their jobs?  No.  
In response to this humanitarian crisis in our own backyard, an extraordinary group of volunteers are stepping up to the plate and working together with IWDC’s Welcome Refugee program to meet the immediate needs of our new neighbors!

It cost approximately $25,000 for each family to rent a small apartment, pay the security deposit, pay for utilities, buy food and household items, and purchase a used car; this covers about five months of expenses.  Your tax-deductible donation will directly support these families.  The DC-based International Women's Democracy Center Welcome Refugee program has an outstanding track record helping to resettle families in the DC Metro area – and they do not take one penny of federal tax dollars to do their work!  IWDC’s Welcome Refugee program works in concert with the established federally funded resettlement agencies to help families furnish their new homes, register kids for school, enroll moms in ESL classes, help dads find jobs and continue to support these families as they rebuild their lives in their new country. Established in 1995 as a nonprofit tax-exempt organization, IWDC's mission is to strengthen women's global leadership through training, education, research and networking. In 1998, the United Nations awarded IWDC Special Consultative Status which ensures that IWDC can participate in all Special Sessions and global conferences with official NGO delegations. 

Please make a generous donation now to help our new neighbors not only feel welcome in their new country, but to experience firsthand the true generosity and kindness of Americans!

IWDC Welcome Refugee Program 
IWDC as part of solution to resettle Afghan refugees

Welcome Refugees will help 20 newly arrived Syrian refugee families to the DC Metro area settle into their apartments while learning English along with the customs and culture of their new country. The 20 families with a total of 49 children ranges in age from 3 months to 20 years have witnessed tragedy and challenges as a result of the war in their homeland.  For nearly 4 years, all of these families have been living in the refugee camps in Amaan, Jordan where they were vetted first by the United Nations for 18 months, then by US Department of State, Homeland Security, Defense, FBI, CIA and other federal agencies for over 2 years before the United States extended an invitation for them to settle in the DC Metro area. 

Sadly, as they were boarding the plane to Washington with only the clothes on their backs – no other personal possessions - they were caught in the ban at the end of January, yanked off the plane and sent back to the refugee camp for another 3 weeks. When they finally arrived in Washington in mid February, they were nervous and unsure of the reception they would receive if they were not welcome in their new country.

Please show these families --whose homes have been bombed and family members killed --  that Americans are warm, welcoming, kind and very generous people.

With your generous tax deductible donation, “Welcome  Refugees” will provide needed financial support to these 20 families, as they learn American culture and customs, improve their English, and find jobs to support their families and become taxpayers. 

Of the many unspeakable tragedies that all of these Syrian refugee families have suffered in the last 4 years, one family Zohri, Samar and their 4 children witnessed what no child or adult should ever have to live through in a lifetime – their house being bombed by their own president!

Running for their lives from their rubble of a home to the next village, it was only a matter of days before that village was bombed to smitherines!  The family ended up in Amaan, Jordan where they lived in a United Nations Refugee camp for nearly 4 years with tens of thousands of refugees until they were fully vetted and invited to  settle in the United States. 

Our goal is to raise $40,000 to ensure that these 20 families can keep a roof over their head and food on their table while they adjust to their new home, learn English, enroll their children in school (with school supplies) and find jobs to pay their rent, utilities and food.  After 3 months, each family is solely responsible for their monthly rent, utilities, food and all the basics. Your generous tax deductible donations will ensure that these families can keep a roof over their heads, continue to learn English navigate the ways of their new country, work and hopefully feel safe and secure. 

Thank you in advance for your generosity and your true American spirit!

Barbara Ferris
President
International Women's Democracy Center