On September 16th PYM featured a list of resources on how to support Afghan refugees. This was one of our most widely read stories this fall, and meetings have stepped into the work of welcoming and resettling refugees with passion and dedication. Now the City of Philadelphia is coordinating a Spiritual Care Presence at the Airport to welcome Afghan families fleeing Afghanistan. Today’s story shows how Friends meetings, and individual Friends can connect with the city around that work.
The City of Philadelphia is continuing this effort and is also working to reactivate the Interfaith Prayer space to provide spiritual counsel and reflection at the airport. It includes Noon Prayer and providing daily spiritual care between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Many religious leaders in Philadelphia are participating in these efforts by lending support.
To further assist the families with supplies and money, the City’s Office of Immigrant Affairs is working with the Nationalities Services Center and HIAS Pennsylvania, which have donation pages on their websites. The best way to send any financial donations to support the Afghan Evacuee efforts is through these two organizations.
How can you help
For a list of long-term care items needed, visit the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team on Facebook.
There are many opportunities to be involved in welcoming Afghans and helping them to rebuild their lives in the United States. Clothing/material donations for long-term care may be mailed or delivered to:
U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Strike Team
ATTN: CPOA
5614 Doughboy Loop
Fort Dix, NJ 08640
How Radnor and Plymouth Meetings, and Quaker-founded I-LEAD helped refugees.
From Radnor meeting’s website we have this news to share:
Radnor Meeting members have been working with members of the local interfaith community who have been involved with hosting and caring for refugees. I-LEAD, Inc., a nonprofit organization, was able to make an apartment in Bryn Mawr available rent-free. A family moved into the unit recently. Radnor Meeting members participated in furnishing and cleaning the unit and preparing food for the beautiful young family: a mother, her brother, and two young children ages 2 and 5. The family is energetic and joyful.
Radnor Friends report that the family does not speak English yet and has education, social and economic needs. Their Peace and Social Concerns committee “is coordinating closely with the Mainline Refugee and Resettlement Committee along with I-LEAD, with support from the Nationalities Services Center, which has the contract with the federal government to support the resettlement of this family.”
I-LEAD was founded by Radnor Quaker David Castro. The school, which is for community leadership development, serves emerging leaders across Pennsylvania. The I-LEAD website notes that “David is also one of the founders of I-LEAD Charter School, a high school that combines leadership development with academic remediation serving at-risk high school age youth in the economically challenged city of Reading, Pennsylvania.”
Plymouth Meeting Friends recently spearheaded a successful effort to resettle an interpreter that was covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Children at Birmingham Meeting created coloring pages for children in Afghan refugee families. The children and adults researched flowers, animals, and other images of Afghanistan to create coloring pages that would be a connection to home for other children. During the weeks of this project, children also sorted and sharpened crayons to go with the coloring pages and read a story about friendship in a refugee camp on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The illustrations are beautiful and give the reader a glimpse of family and community life, struggle and courage, and hope. The book is Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams. The coloring books and crayons were donated to HIAS Pennsylvania.
For Friends who wish to learn more about what other Meetings on the east coast are doing, Westport Quakers have a useful web page with information about new England initiatives for Afghan refugees.
Image Credits: Philadelphia Airport Facebook
