My own idea for growing, learning and peace during sometimes uncertain times is to focus on the refugee children coming to America and their families. This week, this idea took for me, and for Maria. We have joined a group of volunteers working in this area to help the children of refugees by providing them with Welcome Bags when they arrive in America shortly.
The Capital Region Refugee Roundtable, an offshoot of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, asked for help in raising $1,500 to purchase 200 Welcome Bags. So many donations came in quickly that the group upped their crowdsourcing goal to $2,500 and they are only $90 away from that as of this writing.
I’m certain that by the time I finished writing this, they will be over the top. This is a great start, it will be felt all over the country.
My involvement is personal, not political.I don’t think the world is coming to an end, or that our democracy is in ruins. I am not interested in argument or accusation, or in denigrating anyone. We all follow our individual conscience, this where mine is taking me.
I do think it is important that we honor Emma Lazarus and her great work and continue to be a haven for the tired, the poor and the oppressed. That goes to the heart of what our country is about. I want to tell the truth about these people. To me, diversity is not our weakness, it is our strength.
I am the descendant of immigrants who owe their lives to America’s generosity and openness. I am hoping to repay this great debt to America and it’s founding ideals of liberty and justice for all.
I have been researching the story of the immigrants coming to America from war-torn regions and discovering that most, by every honest account, are women and children, the victims of great suffering.
They and their traumatized children are no threat to us and our work, they have done us no harm, committed no terrorist acts, and are thoroughly vetted in a process that takes years. They are not taking our jobs away, immigrants have always been among the hardest working Americans.
I want to meet some and write about their truth in the hopes that honest and good people will make up their own minds about immigration and what it means to be an American.
This is about justice and liberty, not pandering to dangerous stereotypes. I speak for no one but myself. People can make up their own minds, I trust in that. I am deeply touched by the outpouring of support my blog posts – and other people’s work about the children – have generated.
I am surely not alone in this.
We are enlisting in an Army Of Good and in supporting these refugee children, we are helping to build a Wall Of Love and support around them that will help sustain them during their difficult days ahead as they adjust to our country.
The Welcome Bags will include toys, games, socks, art supplies, stuffed animals, hats, gloves, toothpaste, deodorant, comfort blankets. You can contribute directly to the crowdsourcing page on fundabilities.com or you can mail your donation to Anne O’Brien Carelli, 17 Reid Place, Delmar, N.Y., 12054.
You can contribute in any amount you wish. Some stats: it costs $52 to by two cases of winter hats; $66 to buy 100 hackey sacks; $100 to buy 100 pairs of socks; $24 for 100 coloring books; $60 for 100 wildlife puzzles; $40 for 200 boxes of crayons; $115 for 150 foam sports balls; $75 for 100 water-color paint sets.
Every dollar will go to these children.
The refugee children will need all the help we can offer them, even if the group meets its Welcome Bag goal. I am soon to meet the refugee family that Maria and I will be helping, I will follow their journey to America and I will tell the truth about them in words and photos.
Thanks so much, you are all a light unto the world. Don’t believe their news. People do good when given the chance.