Support Afghan Health Initiative's Emergency Fund to Help Afghans Arriving in Washington State
You have probably heard the reports of thousands of people desperately trying to leave Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control of the country. What you may only be beginning to hear about is where they are arriving in the U.S. Many are on their way to the Seattle area and some have already arrived.
One of Front and Centered’s member organizations is the Afghan Health Initiative (AHI) led by Navid Hamidi, who we were lucky enough to hear speak this past spring in the second of our three part series on public and environmental health. Mr. Hamidi is featured in Naomi Ishisaka’s column in The Seattle Times today, “Washington is poised to accept a wave of Afghan refugees. How will they be received?”
As a broader Front and Centered community we need to pull together to aid our communities in this time of crisis. Would you please consider supporting AHI?
Here’s a direct message from Mr. Hamidi:
In light of recent developments in Afghanistan, the next wave of Special Immigrant Visa recipients (SIV) are here and they are still coming in the hundreds.
Afghan Health Initiative is a trusted messenger and community-based organization involved in ensuring the Health and overall well-being of our community. It is in our core mission to ensure that our community has every chance to succeed and thrive in life.
As such, there is an imminent need that will arise in the next few weeks and months. Resettlement agencies aid families for a short period of time, after which, families will then be left alone to their own devices. By this time, these families are not resettled. They may be physically safe, but their struggles are only just beginning.
At this time, we are creating an emergency fund that will allow us to help these new SIV arrivals with case-management, workshops, basic needs assistance, job search assistance, rent/utilities, and other needs as they are identified.
This fund is integral to ensure that our newly arrived community members do not fall through the cracks during these already trying times under the COVID pandemic.
From you all, we request whatever funding amount you can provide and the sharing of this fund with your networks. We have a goal of $500,000.
Please donate through our website directly: https://afghanhealth.org/donate
If more convenient, you may also send donations to F&C with a note indicating “Afghan Relief” and we will make sure it goes to AHI, but it will be speedier if sent to them directly. AHI is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
