Let's do something for the refugees in Fallujah
June 23rd, 2016 | John Chandler
A boy crouches down during a sandstorm in a camp for families displaced from Fallujah. (Loveday Morris/The Washington Post)
Many of you were with us when Jeremy Courtney spoke in liturgy two years ago. He spoke about his work in Iraq through the Preemptive Love Coalition. We consider Jeremy a friend of our church community and we think their work is the real deal.
He wrote this week asking for help with an immediate crisis they are stepping in to. Families are fleeing Fallujah into the desert with no shelter or sustenance. Here’s an article from yesterday’s Washington Post about the crisis.
As a church we want to come alongside and help. Here’s how:
From our neighboring fund, we are going to match the first $1000 given by this Saturday toward this cause. If you would like to participate, please use the giving page on the church website and indicate Special Fallujah Offering from the dropdown.
Here’s what Jeremy has to say:
The human suffering surrounding us in Fallujah, Iraq is overwhelming. More than 27,000 people have escaped ISIS and landed in our lap in the last 72 hours. It is a massive amount of people who suddenly don’t have homes, are traumatized by ISIS violence, and need everything.
We’re overwhelmed with women and children who’ve been starving for months, now stranded in the desert. The UN is asking us for more than we can give—and we are already providing more food than any other org in the world.
Old women sleeping on the hot desert sand without a tent.
Women shot at escaping ISIS.
More than 24 we know who were maimed escaping through an ISIS minefield.
We don’t have enough food, water, beds, blankets, or tents to go around. We can get it—we just need funds.
The Church has helped us make a tremendous impact since the battle started a few weeks ago. We have unparalleled access to military roads, the Prime Minister, and every other entity we need.
NBC News, PBS, The Washington Post, The New York Times all call on us for intel from the front lines. Our work was on the front page of USA Today a few weeks ago and ABC News is using our work in their nightly news coverage of Fallujah. Everything we are doing, we do in full view of the media for transparency’s sake.
The The Washington Post Baghdad Bureau Chief rode with us today to a militia-controlled area where we work and said:
In 4 1/2 years covering Syria and Iraq I’ve never seen conditions this bad. No tents. No water. No words.
Every gift helps us save lives in a place where food is not just aid, it’s actually a counter-terrorism initiative against ISIS and their malign recruitment efforts.
Our friends here literally cannot wait any longer. Is there anything you and your church could do in the short- or medium term to help us meet this massive wave of 83,000 people?
Thanks all for considering this opportunity for us to be a global church. Please let us know if you have any questions