For six months Helping Hands for Relief and Development campaigned to collect coats and blankets for refugees in Lebanon with the help of several faith based nonprofits and local government organizations throughout Northern Virginia. Lebanon has more refugees per capita than any other country in the world and resists setting up official refugee camps
Accompanying 3 shipping containers, about 700 boxes of winter essentials, a high level delegation left from Dulles International Airport on March 21, 2018, despite Storm Toby pounding the runway.
The Syria conflict has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Humanitarian needs continue to rise, population displacements are increasing, and an entire generation of children is exposed to war and violence, increasingly deprived of basic services, education and protection. ”Seven years into the crisis, Syrian refugees in Lebanon are finding it even more difficult to make ends meet and are more reliant than ever on international aid – amid an uncertain outlook for humanitarian funding in 2018,” stated UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler earlier this year. According to a Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees (VASyR) conducted by the United nations agency, three quarters of Syrian refugees in Lebanon now live on less than US$4 per day, leaving many in severe debt.
“Alhamdulillah. the campaign was a success with 3 full containers, or 700 plus boxes, being shipped. Now, we will be sending a delegation to Lebanon along with the collected donations,” said Asif Khan, HHRD coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Region. This blanket and coat drive involves just about every jurisdiction in the region, including Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William, and Arlington Counties, Alexandria, and most cities and towns.
The coat and blanket drive has become a NOVA interfaith tradition. Board-member Mustafa Akpinar and President G. Mark Gibb of the Northern Virginia Relief Center are also traveling with the delegation. Gibbs, who is also a Mormon bishop, has been an advocate for the refugees after prior trips to refugee camps in Turkey.
“What I’m learning is that [Lebanon and Jordan] have the most need in terms of physical needs,” Gibb had said earlier on why his organization shifted relief efforts from Turkey to Lebanon. “It’s hard for me to believe that it’s even worse than it is in Turkey, because I saw that personally, but they say the need is even greater in these countries.”
Gibbs and Khan met at an event at the Rumi Forum. This serendipitous meeting was right in time, as NOVA Relief Center found a new partner in Helping Hands for Relief and Development (HHRD).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was a crucial partner in the effort. “The local Mormon community also played a vital role in the collecting and packaging of these donations,” shared Khan.
Virginia masajid ADAMS Center and Dar Al Hijrah were centers of collection.
Rasheed Ahmad, HHRD Marketing and Outreach manager in NOVA.
With services donated by Paxton Van Lines and Maersk Line, all items were shipped free of coast to the refugees in Beirut, Lebanon.
Saying that is critical for local governments in the United States to learn the magnitude and severity of the refugee crisis, two mayors, the Hon. David Lavon Meyer, Mayor, City of Fairfax and Hon. Peter David Tarter, Mayor, City of Falls Church are traveling with the delegation.
"Folks in Northern Virginia are deeply concerned about people in the other side of the world,” said Mayor Tarter to the Muslim Link. “We hope to order a small bit of assistance and tell the story of what os going on there,” he said. The mayor had previously visited refugee camps in Turkey as a part of a humanitarian mission in 2016.
"No community, no state, no nation is an island in itself,” said Mayor Meyer, “we are all connected.” He stressed the need to address this problem and find a permanent solution. He said that communities can learn to appreciate what they have when they assist in crises like these.
To observe and offer assistance, Scott Kiefer York, former Chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and board member of the Northern Virginia Relief Center.
“The Syrian refugee crisis has touched the hearts of every on win the world,” said Marty E. Nohe, Prince William County Board of Supervisors and chairman of the Northern Virginia transportation commission as he got ready to board the Qatar Airways flight. He conveyed that he looks forward to helping Syrian refugees rebuild their lives back in their own country.
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