My name is Carlo and many of you know I served as a US soldier in Afghanistan over 15 years ago. My former interpreter and now dear friend lives here in the US, is a citizen, and has continued to serve our country and his home country of Afghanistan. Unfortunately his family was abandoned by President Joe Biden and his administration, even after they risked their lives working for us and to help make Afghanistan a safer and better place. They were promised evacuation but that was a lie. Now they are actively being hunted down by the Taliban who continue to go door to door intently seeking to kill them. Each day is more and more terrifying as they are closing in. Their lives are in grave danger.

Fortunately there are some good organizations and teams of lawyers working pro bono to help them apply for the Humanitarian Parole program. I am joint sponsoring his family to enter this program. It will help them get accepted into neighboring countries in order to travel to the US where they can continue to process their paperwork to reunite with my friend here. While it does not guarantee their escape from Afghanistan (it’s a rapidly evolving, uncertain, and intense situation), it lays extremely significant groundwork for their escape. The total application fee for all his family members is $3,215. This is all we are trying to raise.

Many of you may have already forgotten about Afghanistan but for him and his family this is a continuing nightmare. This is an opportunity to make a real direct positive impact in the lives of those many have only seen and know through the scrolling of social media apps. Please consider donating any small amount. It all adds up. This will be my only fundraising endeavor for the year. Thank you.