Simple actions you can take to show support for refugees in your community.
This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, we're spreading love by helping refugees in our local communities. Right now, the world is in the midst of the greatest refugee crisis since WWII. According to UNHCR, there are 21 million people worldwide who have been forced to seek safety in a new land due to war or conflict — and half of all refugees are children.
When refugees arrive in a new country, often with few belongings and not speaking the language, staring a new life can be challenging. Support from the local community, however, can made a tremendous difference, especially at making people feel welcome during these times when anti-refugee/anti-immigrant rhetoric has become all too common.
In this blog post, we've shared a number of simple actions that you can take to show support for the refugees in your community, both in the US and in Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Since refugee resettlement in the U.S. has also been the subject of significant confusion recently, we've also provided a short overview of how it works and an update on recent events. Finally, if you'd like to talk to children about refugees and why supporting them matters, you can find books to share with both children and teens in our blog post, Seeking Safety in a New Land: 15 Books About Mighty Girl Refugees.
