Please Help Us Feed New Families from Kabul!
Donation protected
Hi, my name is Sara and I am in charge of getting emergency food and necessities for Afghan families that are resettling in our area. I represent Arlington Neighbors Welcoming Afghan Families, a grass-roots collaborative effort of neighbors helping fill the gaps to help these families settle in as comfortably as possible. So far we have settled 58 families and are getting more and more each day. With your help we plan to settle a lot more.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/arlingtonneighborswelcomingafghans
There are so many families arriving that it is impossible for the resettlement agencies to meet their needs. Our group gets calls from families with no food stamps and no real solution while they wait for their card to arrive. The apartments are barren, we help with stocking and furnishing them too, but until then they sit all day waiting. And right now, it's a long wait from an overwhelmed system. In a lot of cases, food stamps are taking a lot longer than expected.
WHO: These newly arrived Afghans left their families and everything they've ever known and risked their lives to come here. They arrived with nothing but the clothes on their back and the promise and hope of a new life. This new life is extremely difficult to get started right now as government agencies and NGOs are overworked and overwhelmed, some having over 100+ cases per case worker. This local crisis was featured in the Washington Post this past weekend:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/12/afghan-refugees-washington-virginia-cases/?fbclid=IwAR2gLkBAYmmO-_OqIe6wJr0EGdI4jPBBis2729_yRwkAmASOfKOYY_6JkK8
WHAT WE DO: We get a phone call from an organization or a lot of the times, from word of mouth. We contact the people and assess their situation. Most need food first...right away. We send them an Afghan meal and get over there as soon as possible. We then take them shopping and make sure they are fed until their food stamps arrive. When the food stamps arrive we help find them local food banks to supplement and Halal stores that accept food stamps. We get them toiletries, all of the basics before we get a team to set them up for the life they came here for; comfy beds, furniture, kitchen supplies, clothing, everything they need to call this a home.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please consider donating to these amazing people who are so proud to now call the USA their home. They helped us. They are scared but they are hopeful, so let's help them. They deserve it.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/arlingtonneighborswelcomingafghans
There are so many families arriving that it is impossible for the resettlement agencies to meet their needs. Our group gets calls from families with no food stamps and no real solution while they wait for their card to arrive. The apartments are barren, we help with stocking and furnishing them too, but until then they sit all day waiting. And right now, it's a long wait from an overwhelmed system. In a lot of cases, food stamps are taking a lot longer than expected.
WHO: These newly arrived Afghans left their families and everything they've ever known and risked their lives to come here. They arrived with nothing but the clothes on their back and the promise and hope of a new life. This new life is extremely difficult to get started right now as government agencies and NGOs are overworked and overwhelmed, some having over 100+ cases per case worker. This local crisis was featured in the Washington Post this past weekend:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/12/afghan-refugees-washington-virginia-cases/?fbclid=IwAR2gLkBAYmmO-_OqIe6wJr0EGdI4jPBBis2729_yRwkAmASOfKOYY_6JkK8
WHAT WE DO: We get a phone call from an organization or a lot of the times, from word of mouth. We contact the people and assess their situation. Most need food first...right away. We send them an Afghan meal and get over there as soon as possible. We then take them shopping and make sure they are fed until their food stamps arrive. When the food stamps arrive we help find them local food banks to supplement and Halal stores that accept food stamps. We get them toiletries, all of the basics before we get a team to set them up for the life they came here for; comfy beds, furniture, kitchen supplies, clothing, everything they need to call this a home.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please consider donating to these amazing people who are so proud to now call the USA their home. They helped us. They are scared but they are hopeful, so let's help them. They deserve it.
Organizer
Sara Pasquini
Organizer
Arlington, VA