#SocialJustice
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The One Journey Festival: A Refugee Advocate’s Dream Event
By Aseel Elborno On June 25, 2022, Islamic Relief USA sponsored and participated in the One Journey Festival for their third annual celebration of refugees. The day was filled with music, dance, storytelling, food, arts & crafts, technology, and more. One Journey was founded in 2017 by Wendy Chan and Vanda Berninger, two American immigrants who wanted to share their positive, welcoming experiences as newcomers with others. Today, the One Journey Festival is an annual event that attracts greater visibility and larger crowds each year. The entire event is organized and run by volunteers and supported by NGOs, multicultural communities, faith communities, government and academia work. IRUSA advocates and volunteers…
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A Fatal Bronx Fire
Communities, led by West African families, mount responses and mourn A fire unseen for over 30 years It had been over three decades since a Bronx nightclub was set on fire claiming the lives of 87 people. The culprit spent his last days of a life sentence in 2016 behind bars. Early this January, countless families experience the horror of losing loved ones as a fire consumed the Twin Parks NW apartment building in the Bronx. Built as low-income housing in 1974, the building was home to ranging ethnicities. It most prominently featured West Africans who championed a tight-knit community. A Sunday morning of horror All residents of the complex…
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MLK Now
Four passages that power IRUSA for a day “On” In cities across America, IRUSA Blueshirts have joined hands with neighbors, advocates, community servants, and partners who hold the timeless legacy of civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a part of the lifeblood of their mission. His commitment to championing the forgotten, honoring the oppressed is a reminder to those in power, that they spend every day entrusted to help others become self-determined. As the people we serve gather resources, food parcels, and many other essential items, we are reminded that Dr. King was constantly pushing every one of us to connect to a higher ideal, a higher…
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Palestine in Pain
More than 200 people were killed and a thousand more injured as Ramadan closed; Islamic Relief donors moved quickly to deliver aid to those affected Death Toll Rising Over 200 people have died as result of military assaults on residential areas in Palestine. Among the fatalities are are more than 60 women and more than 30 children. In both the evening and daylight cries and screams can be heard from people who’ve lost lives and loved ones. For decades the Palestinian communities in Palestine and across the world have called for an end to a protracted war on their bodies and homeland. Humanitarian Situation Decaying According to the United Nations…
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U.N. Women’s Conference features IR Reps
Bringing perspective to sustainable development By Christina Tobias-Nahi, May Hashem, Minhaj Hassan Making a Difference Women making extraordinary differences is a common outcome in many programs that Islamic Relief administers around the world and likes to showcase. The Islamic Relief journey with Gender Equality was institutionalized through the Gender Justice policy developed back in 2014, and was presented at a series of global stakeholder roundtables across many continents. A larger campaign roll out was planned for 2020 but events were postponed due to COVID-19. Meanwhile Islamic Relief has conducted a gender review, mapping their gender empowerment and gender protection (including gender based violence, early marriage etc.) related programs over the…
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Behind the Blueshirts
A candid conversation with one of IRUSA’s prized volunteers, Wafa Omran-Elhindi 1. At a young age, or while growing up, did you have someone in your life who inspired you to volunteer or to be generous? My parents were exceptionally generous people. Not only with their money, but more with their affection, kindness, and time. They had this extraordinary ability to make every single person they know feel loved. At the root of this effusive affection was my parents’ inability to be selfish. My dad in particular, grew up dirt-poor in a tent in a refugee camp. His mother had to sell her only possessions, to pay for his education.…
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MLK Day of Service Brings Hope to Hearts
2021 is off to the races to bring relief to neighbors The great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said the problem of hunger hardly stems from not having the tools to address it. “There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will.” Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) refuses to let complacency and inertia fester around the issue of hunger. It addresses the problem head-on, especially on Dr. King’s birthday every January. For several years now, IRUSA has conducted a Day of Service on Martin Luther King Day, holding food distributions in many urban centers around the country. Ready to Respond The need for…
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Racism as a Public Health Crisis
Health experts weigh-in structural racism’s brutal effects The disproportionate number of people from racial minority groups who’re suffering –and dying–from the coronavirus pandemic is hardly a surprise. In fact, accoriding to one expert, Kameelah Mu’Min Rashad of the Muslim Foundation, the health care disparities experienced by them are linked to systemic racism. “They are always intertwined,” she said. Simply put, it’s a pandemic within a pandemic. That was just one of the revelations expressed during Islamic Relief USA’s webinar “Racism as a Public Health Crisis,” on Jan. 19. Along with Rashad, the 80-minute session featured Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan-based epidemiologist who has frequently appeared on CNN. ‘Cumulative Deprioritization’ More…
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Your Vote, Your Voice
IRUSA gears up for a game-changing get out the vote campaign. Let nobody tell you otherwise; your voice matters, particularly on Election Day. With several elections scheduled Nov. 3, including one for the presidency, it is essential we practice our right to vote. It is a right we can’t take for granted. As several recent elections have shown, every vote is precious and plays an integral role in determining policy. Elections have consequences as they signal our priorities, our values, and our convictions. To help generate interest and, more importantly, action, Islamic Relief USA, a nonprofit 501(c)3 humanitarian and advocacy organization, has launched a Get Out the Vote campaign on…
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One-on-One with Congressman André Carson
Indiana representative provides a window into policy decisions in the pandemic Watch recording here A Sliver of Hope Indiana Rep. Andre Carson (D-7) said on Wednesday, April 8, that he hopes to have another bill of the CARES ( Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act enacted to address some of the issues that weren’t included in the first round. The CARES Act is a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill recently passed by Congress to address the various social and economic aftereffects of the coronavirus outbreak (formally known as COVID-19) that have brought much of the worldwide economy to a standstill. The holding pattern has caused record unemployment (more than 10…
