My name is Scott Yeatman, and I have spent two years in Afghanistan with the United States Air Force as a military Air Advisor. During that time, I worked closely with my Afghan in colleagues to build their military skills as they worked to secure their nation against violent extremism. Successful military advising requires the establishment of a personal relationship in order to develop mutual trust. It is for this reason I have come to be connected to so many of my former partners and why I have been unable to turn away from the terrible circumstances in which so many of them find themselves today.

Since August, I have been working with an all-volunteer team (Operation Sacred Promise) to connect our former Afghan partners with the means of evacuation and resettlement. While we have been successful in securing evacuation and resettlement for some of our partners and their families, policy issues related to the rules and administration of the Special Immigrant Visa and the many challenges faced during the August evacuation from Kabul, have left many of our families trapped in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future.

Our partners and their families have now been without salary for four months and are facing an uncertain future. Most have run through their savings and are unable to connect with employment in the limited economy that remains or are simply trapped in hiding due to the daily threat of political and religious reprisal from the ruling Taliban regime based on their association with the former Afghan Air Force or because of their ethnic and religious minority status.

For this reason, we have begun to provide relief to those who have been left behind even as we continue to advocate on their behalf with the US government and seek to connect them with on-going means of evacuation. This relief has taken many forms, but the most successful we have found to date is a food program run by a non-profit group with connections to vendors within established markets. We send Hospitality for Humanity funds and they are able to provide food packages to our at risk families. Each package comes with enough supplies to sustain a family of 6 for 3 weeks. The packages are distributed in a low-signature way which minimizes the threat of exposure and addressing food insecurity has proven to be the most efficient and economical means of assisting our at risk families.

Food packages are $210 each and may be augmented with additional items such as infant formula, diapers, women's sanitary products, fuel wood, and winter clothing. Each dollar donated will go directly to aiding an at risk family as all work supporting this project is accomplished by volunteers. Thank you for considering making a one-time donation, a monthly gift, or sponsoring a family over the winter.

Scott