Support Afghan Refugee Family in Wenatchee

**This is a fundraiser to support a family of Afghan refugees who arrived in the Wenatchee Valley in July 2022. The organizers are local residents who formed a group called the Wenatchee Valley Afghan Support Circle for this purpose.**

It has been nearly a year since the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Since then, the U.S. has evacuated around 80,000 people from the war-torn country. Most worked and lived side-by-side with Americans. But now, tens of thousands of Afghan refugees - families like ours - are in limbo, waiting for a new place to call home.

 

Through a program launched by the Biden Administration in response to this humanitarian crisis, we are welcoming an Afghan family to Wenatchee, Washington, and providing the family with all of the services normally provided by a refugee agency. And we need your help!

 

The Noori family arrived in the Wenatchee Valley in early July. They are a married couple with three young children. The Nooris' journey has been a difficult one. After the U.S. government airlifted the family out of Kabul, the family lived in a refugee camp in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for nine months. From there, the U.S. Government transported them to Virginia, where the family lived in a hotel for almost a month, waiting. Once in Virginia, the family accepted the invitation of the Wenatchee Valley Afghan Support Circle and chose to establish their new life here in the Wenatchee Valley.

The family was thoroughly "vetted" by the U.S. government. For ten years, Mr. Noori worked to support the NATO effort in Afghanistan. He worked for the U.S. armed forces and other NATO member countries. By doing so, he put his life and the lives of his entire family at risk. As one retired US Marine Corps member working alongside Mr. Noori wrote, "Mr Noori has risked himself along with his famil[ies] lives as a result of working for the Americans, Coalition Forces. Mr. Rashad Ahmad Noori along with this family are under constant threat and [it] is well known to the Taliban as he enters and departs Resolute Support Headquarters." Mr. Noori and his family were among the crush of people we all saw and read about at the Kabul airport in August 2021, fleeing the country for their lives.

Now the family is making a new life in Wenatchee. Mr. Noori is eager to find employment so that he and his family can be self-sufficient. But they need our help to get there.

We are asking for your financial support primarily to help the family pay rent, and also to help with other necessities such as household furnishings and clothing. Anything you can donate will help!

More about the program

We are participating in an emergency program launched by the State Department last October that allows ordinary Americans (a "Sponsor Circle") to resettle Afghan evacuees in their own community. Sponsor Circles provide the relocation and integration services otherwise provided by U.S. refugee agencies, dramatically increasing the U.S. capacity to resettle Afghan evacuees.

 

Sponsor Circles are required to obtain at least $2,275 per person. That means we must raise at least $11,375 to support a family of five for at least 90 days. We are hoping to provide the reassurance that we will be there for them, financially and otherwise, for at least 12-18 months, until they are able to securely support themselves.

 

More press about the program

US State Department launches the Sponsor Program

Helping refugees as part of a ‘sponsor circle’ ’

 

Who we are

In early 2022, a coalition of Wenatchee Valley residents formed a Sponsor Circle to welcome an Afghan refugee family to Wenatchee. We represent churches, service clubs, and individuals who felt an obligation to do something to help. We love this Valley and know the people here to be welcoming and kind. It is a privilege to share this special place with a family who has fled from conflict in search of peace. We are:

 

Rhonnie Craven

Kay Fisher

Donald and Barbara Flick

Craig Garver

Doug Head

Barbara Hume

Judith Lurie

John and Leslie Marshall

Ann McIntosh (WVASC treasurer)

Melanie McQuaig

Kelli Scott

Michelle Shermer

Earl and Barbara Tilly

Margaret Tudor

 

THANK YOU.