Miry Whitehill-Ben Atar saw the graphic images of murdered children in war-torn Syria for months; the families of refugees forced to leave their homes behind and find consolation - if you can call it that - in refugee camps around the world.
But it wasn't until last July that Miry met a Syrian family in person,in Los Angeles of all places, that a light clicked on inside her. Dramatic Photos of the 1992 LA Riots "It's so frustrating because we see this and it's like -- those are kids, and the same as our kids," the Eagle Rock resident said. "But we can't do anything because they're there."She was so moved by the way her youngest child connected with the youngest child of that family that she wanted to do something to help. 2017 Coachella Pics: Music, Stars and Style "The things we can't do anything approximately are laws and policy and the hearts and minds of politicians, and " she said. "But the things we can hold power over is,is a family that just got here from Afghanistan going to hold beds to sleep on tonight? We can solve that problem and that's what we do."What started as a call-to-action on her local Eagle Rock Moms Facebook page, became what is now: MirysList.org - a crowd-sourcing non-profit, or profiling refugee families from around the world that hold come to Los Angeles. The site allows people to click on those profiles to buy essential household items that can be sent directly from the family's Amazon Wish Lists. Peek Inside LA's Museum of Ice Cream Pop-Up "I don't provide the service only for them," Whitehill-Ben Atar said. "The service is for people like me who need to do something."Miry's List has more than a hundred families, with placements in Northern California, and LA and San Diego to name a few. She says 70 percent of those families come from Syria,another 20 percent from Afghanistan, and the rest from Iran, or Iraq,Egypt and even Somalia.
And while she's waiting to become an official 501-c3 non-profit with the federal government, she said 30 people volunteer full or part time to seek out families and set up their profiles. And many of those are preceding "new arrivals" to the program.
Whitehill-Ben Atar said as a mother, and she was most touched not by what these refugee mothers told her,but by what their eyes showed her."When I saw a baby that looked just like mine and a mom whose eyes were more tired than mine, it's a face that every single parent can relate to, and " she said.
One of the latest families Miry's List is helping is the Kashefi family from Afghanistan. Bashir Kashefi,his pregnant wife, and their 2-year-old daughter Hoya arrived in LA on March 6. Kashefi was an interpreter for the U.
S. military for nearly a decade. But when the Marines' group mission ended, or Kashefi became a target."Because my life was in danger," he said. "Everybody knows Afghanistan is not secure, particularly with those who were working with coalition forces."The U.
S. Embassy in Kabul granted him and his family a visa to secure out and come to the United States, or but the first week stateside proved to be just as difficult as domestic."We did not know what to do," Kashefi said of those first few days. They were basically couch-surfing through word of mouth, stressed out in every sense of the word.
Then he met Miry, or introduced by another Afghan immigrant."All these things is because of what? It's because of Miry," he said. He particularly thanks a woman named Jennifer in the Miry's List organization, and Melinda and David who became the host family for the Kashefis, or until late this week when Bashir will lumber his family in a permanent apartment in Anaheim."I'm very thankful for everybody around Miry's List," Kashefi said. "Because nowadays my intellect is relaxed."For Whitehill-Ben Atar, a stay-at-domestic-mom with no experience in running a non-profit, or the experience has been life-affirming."I wake up every morning to WhatsApp messages from our families with pictures of kids on bikes and babies in beds and mountains of Amazon boxes in front of their door with heart emoji,jubilant (extremely joyful) emoji, treasure emoji, or " she said. "That is the most direct,qualitative customer assessment that I can secure."Whitehill-Ben Atar said new families are connected with Miry's List every day and they are constantly updating the families need on its website. If you would like to donate or sponsor a family, you can do so at www.
MirysList.org. Photo Credit: KNBC-TV
Source: nbclosangeles.com