On Tuesday, September 20, President Obama addressed the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations in New York and urged the world to do more to help refugees from the civil war raging in Syria as well as other conflicts worldwide. He announced that the USA would accept 110,000 refugees in 2017, an increase from the maximum of 85,000 in the current year (UPI). Among the world’s richest nations, the USA has accepted far fewer refugees than many European nations. Hopefully, this will begin to change.
As part of the USA trying to improve , the administration is working hard to meet its goal of accepting 11,000 refugees from Syria this year. According to the Department of State Refugee Processing Center web site, 14,158 Syrian refugees have been settled in the United States over the past five years of the Syrian conflict, with the vast majority of them arriving since 2014. Of these, 396 have been settled in Maryland, mostly in Baltimore (243). Closer to us, 69 refugees have been resettled in Silver Spring and 75 in Riverdale Park.

So, what can we, at Sandy Spring Friends, do to help? The White House has a page on its web site, Whitehouse.gov, that is devoted to aiding refugees and directing concerned Americans. If you plug in the Sandy Spring zip code of 20860 into its search tool for local organizations helping refugees, it lists 7 organizations[a] within 35 miles. The very nearest of these is the African Community Center of Silver Spring (301-562-8633). Also listed are three organizations in Arlington, including Refugee Services (703-841-3879). However, the most promising listing may be the International Rescue Committee of Baltimore, located at the Baltimore Resettlement Center (410-327-1885).

In fact, the International Rescue Committee along with the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) will be taking part in a forum called “Refugees in our Midst: How can we help?” Sponsored by the Sandy Spring Friends Meeting Peace Committee, the forum was held at the Sandy Spring Museum on October 9, providing a great opportunity to find out more ways we can help address the crisis locally. Apart from volunteering, another way to help is to donate to organizations helping address the crisis abroad. A good listing of these organizations is located on the USAID web site at usaid.gov/crisis/syria.

Reading the latest awful headlines or seeing the latest tragic pictures of children and families struck by the horror of this conflict can be depressing and paralyzing. You might feel like there is little hope. But, if you reach out and begin to help, you can be a part of the best hope there is for a better ending to this story. The more of us that do so, the more hope there will be.

Sources:

• sandyspring.org/?p-834

• www.white.gov/aidrefugees

• http://www.wrapsnet.org/Reports/InteractiveReporting/tabid/393/EnumType/Report/Default.aspx?ItemPath=/rpt_WebArrivalsReports/MX%20-%20Arrivals%20by%20Destination%20and%20Nationality

• http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-news/2016/09/20/Obama-says-50-nations-pledge-to-accept-additional-360K-refugees/8151474412927/