Support Community Leader Who Lost Home in a Fire

On Monday, Nahar, longtime DRUM member leader, lost her home in a devastating fire in Jackson Heights. Firefighters were able to put out the fire but Nahar’s home sustained such heavy damage that it has been condemned as unlivable.

 

What are our responsibilities to each other in moments such as these? How will Nahar’s community show up for her?

 

The best guide is perhaps to see what Nahar herself has done for others. A couple of months into the pandemic, Nahar’s tenant started packing up and preparing to leave because he said he couldn’t afford to pay rent. Nahar told him to not worry about the rent, and that it would be dangerous for him and for others to be out on the streets, and then Nahar pushed within DRUM to build out our housing justice program and simultaneously led the fights for both Rent Relief Funds and for the Excluded Workers Fund.

 

 

Since joining DRUM in 2015, Nahar has been a force in fighting to improve the lives and conditions of her neighbors and larger community. Nahar has shown up for her community throughout the pandemic! She supported many community members during the Power & Safety through Solidarity (PaSS) campaign by organizing food support and connecting working class communities to PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) at the beginning of the pandemic. Later in 2020, she worked to ensure that all our communities were counted through the census. Nahar has also participated in DRUM's gender justice work and supported the empowerment of women and girls in our communities. Nahar was a longtime restaurant worker in Jackson Heights, and organized around issues of workers rights and wages.

 

 

Nahar is devastated by the loss of her home. We are moved by the ways that people have already been supporting Nahar. We are organizing and gathering community support to help her and her family through this difficult time. All contributions to this campaign will go towards Nahar and her family securing housing and paying basic needs for the upcoming months.

 

Nahar is currently unemployed and has struggled to pay bills over the past couple of years. Her basement was flooded after Hurricane Ida and she was never able to repair it. Additionally, Nahar has not requested rent from her tenants since the pandemic began. Since the fire, she has been coordinating with her tenants who lived on the second and third floors to find safe housing.

 

 

Nahar has exemplified what it means to take care of each other. Now it is our turn to collectively take care of Nahar. We keep each other safe. Please spread the word and donate what you are able.