We Welcome You

August was a tough month: earthquake in Haiti; hurricane Ida in Louisiana; a surge of the Delta COVID variant; in California where I live, the final countdown to the Gubernatorial recall election; massive wildfires in the West; and the most heart wrenching to watch, in my opinion, the chaotic U.S. withdrawal of military and allies from Afghanistan. This was the backdrop for my charity project.

I limit my news intake. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I can’t process it all. One of these events is big, collectively they are huge. I fear not being able to get out of bed in the morning.

Yet one mid-August morning I opened the newspaper. On the front page of the Local section was a feel-good story about Nona Rafferty, a woman, who for her 70th birthday, mailed $70 to 70 people with the following request:

Please give the money away. How you do that is entirely up to you. Touch someone’s life. Let them know you are a link in a chain of paying kindness and gratitude forward.

Inspired, I immediately began work on my 60th birthday project — $60 to 60 people. On the last day of August, the final day of our withdrawal from Afghanistan, my letters were mailed.

If this project has shown me anything, it’s that people have big hearts and just want to help. And many, after watching the withdrawal unfold before their eyes – the chaos and danger and desperation to flee a place that is no longer safe – decided this was their cause.

Saving the World with 60 Dollars is how Mary Ann started her note to me. Wanting to touch as many people as possible she spread her $60 across 6 charities; including ones helping people impacted by the earthquake and the hurricane, and Afghan refugees. She enjoyed keeping her eyes out for charities that supported these causes.

World Central Kitchen feeds the world, serving meals in the aftermath of disasters. They served meals to communities impacted by the hurricane and the earthquake. At Dulles airport they partnered with two restaurants to have nourishing meals ready for Afghan families as soon as they landed. This is the organization that one of my neighbors donated to.

After doing some research, my 18-year old cousin decided to donate his $60 and new and lightly used items he had around the house to Helping El Cajon Refugees, a group helping Afghan refugees settle in El Cajon, CA. The donation was impactful for him as well; he shared with me that it made him realize how fortunate he was to be living the life he does.

Karyn matched my $60 with money of her own and donated to Home for Refugees USA, an organization that works with resettlement agencies to place and support Afghan families in local communities. They provide services to help families get established and flourish as citizens: medical, education, transportation, social services, financial services, job mentoring, shopping assistance, and mosque connection. Two of Karyn’s friends are closely associated with this organization and shared that there are several trained teams of volunteers in my county at the ready; they’re just waiting for available housing.

You may recall a nine-second video on the news of an Afghan baby girl being lifted up to a Marine. The marine grabbed her by the arm and pulled her safely over a razor-wire fence. She was 16 days old at the time, which made it shocking to watch. Her father, Hameed, worked as a linguist and cultural advisor for military officials in Kabul. He had been living at the airport, helping the Marines with the evacuation when his wife delivered their first born. When it became clear that Hameed’s association with the U.S. military put his family’s life in danger his wife set out for the airport with their baby. Enroute, the Taliban robbed her of their IDs, gold, cash, passports, and even her shoes.

Hameed could see them from the other side of the fence, but wasn’t sure if they would actually make it through. It was not safe. After hours of waiting he asked a Marine who was standing on a vehicle along the fence for help. Save my baby girl. With Hameed holding his legs for stability, the Marine leaned over the fence, grabbed her arm, and pulled her over the top – the nine-seconds captured on video. Hurting the child was better than risking her death on the other side.

It is a success story as far as these stories go; the family re-united and made it safely to Arizona. A Go Fund Me campaign has been created to help them get established in the Phoenix area. Another cousin of mine, living in the area, gifted his $60 to Hameed’s family through this campaign.

My neighbor, Vickie, introduced me to Airbnb.org. Partnering with airbnb Hosts and resettlement agencies they’ve provided temporary stays for 20,000 Afghan refugees. Vickie increased her donation to $120 through matching funds offered by the Shapiro Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to tackling the global refugee crisis.

That some of the birthday funds were devoted to helping Afghan refugees settle in a new home is more than I could’ve ever hoped for. I am so very grateful. And in the end, perhaps even hopeful.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
~Seneca

PHOTO: U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons