How to help

Here are ways you can help:

• Driving to deliver groceries, household supplies, and/or furniture by signing up for our WhatsApp group.
• Housing & Employment Leads When refugees first arrive in this country, they have no credit history or employment, making landlords hesitant to rent to them. Assistance in locating housing and/or jobs is the fundamental way to help them succeed. Please share housing or employment referrals and/or indicate a willingness to co-sign on a lease: https://mcceastbay.org/cosigner
• Donate to Afghan Refugee Support Fund MCC and SRVIC are in for the long haul, and we need your support. Your financial donations are needed now more than ever to ensure we have the funds to support new refugees: https://mcceastbay.org/refugee-fund
• We have quarterly bazaars coming up. Please sign up to give rides to refugees, translate, or help with set-up, clean-up, and bazaar operations.
• Sign up to volunteer with sorting and food delivery at the food pantry.
• Please purchase online household items for apartment furnishing that will ship directly to MCC using our Amazon apartment set-up gift list.
• The primary needed items remaining are Amazon gift cards, unlocked cell phones, and Chromebooks. Message refugee@mcceastbay.org
• Volunteer This form adds you to our leading volunteer sign-up form for updates and future opportunities.

How to receive help

Rental Assistance & Food

Thank you for allowing us the privilege to help you and your family.

To learn how we can partner with your family, please complete our application for:

• Zakat/Sadaqa Fund: This will give us the best idea of how we can help you. Here is our online application: https://mcceastbay.org/zakat-application
• Pantry: Please allow us to deliver food, diapers, or other everyday essentials to your doorstep: https://mcceastbay.org/pantry-request
• ESL: Please contact Las Positas Community College, Pleasanton Adult & Career Education, or email the SRVIC-MCC Refugee team.
• WhatsApp Job Board: https://mcceastbay.org/job
• Vehicle Waiting List Program: To be added to the waitlist: https://mcceastbay.org/vehicle-form
• Burial/funeral assistance: HTTP://mcceastbay.org/burial
• Mental Health services: https://mcceastbay.org/counseling/
• Immigration attorney referrals: https://mcceastbay.org/immigration/

Other Resources

• MCC East Bay: Immigration Attorneys in Bay Area
• CAIR California: Immigration & Policy Resources For Afghanistan
• Maisie McCormack: Leaving Afghanistan
• City of Fremont: Afghan Refugee Fund
• PARS Center: Legal services

Sponsoring a Family in Afghanistan

• The SRVIC-MCC does not sponsor families. Please see this information sheet.
• Please see CAIR-LA’s page here.
• The 5Ive Pillars Organization here.

Questions? refugee@mcceastbay.org

In-Kind Assistance

• Household furniture items needed for setting up apartments: https://mcceastbay.org/furniture
• Clothes and household items for setting up apartments: https://mcceastbay.org/clothing
• Toys needed for specific-age groups: https://mcceastbay.org/amazon
• The MCC Car Program has facilitated the donation of 150 vehicles to date and has a long waiting list of refugees: https://mcceastbay.org/car-program
• Bicycles are an evergreen ask from refugees. Please let us know if you have a new or gently used bicycle for any age to donate: https://mcceastbay.org/bicycle
• Food pantry: We need help filling the shelves and stocking up on ethnic food items. See what’s required: https://mcceastbay.org/pantry-donations
• Cell phones, very gently used and fully unlocked from any carrier company, are required. Chargers need to be included. We also accept gently used, entirely wiped laptops and Chromebooks, complete with chargers. Please send a message to refugee@mcceastbay.org to arrange to drop off.

Foster Care

• For those who speak Dari, Farsi, Pashto, or Arabic and are open to fostering Afghan children, please get in touch with Alameda County Social Services, Department of Children & Family Services by visiting their website and completing the contact form or by calling the Alameda County Adoption and Foster Care Hotline at (510) 259-3575.
• To support unaccompanied Afghan minors in the Bay Area, please contact Kelsey Coplin, Community Coordinator, Refugee Foster Care Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, kcoplin@catholiccharitiesscc.org or 408.325.5273.
• For housing assistance, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Refugee Programs Bureau.

Other Ways to Help

• The SRVIC-MCC Refugee Team is helping resettlement efforts only in the Bay Area. Here are some local nonprofit organizations that are sending humanitarian aid overseas to Afghanistan:
  • Al-Misbaah Resource Center
  • HHRD
  • IRUSA
  • Zakat Foundation of America
  • Launchgood has also set up a page to donate to help the deserving in Afghanistan here.

Questions or comments? refugee@mcceastbay.org

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MCC East Bay’s Refugee Response

By Alexa Senter, Marketing & Communications Manager

As you may already know, Alameda County is home to the country’s largest community of Afghans and Afghan Americans. This vibrant community has contributed to the rich tapestry of the East Bay’s history, economy, and culture. Since August 2021, they have also been on the front lines of responding to the refugee crisis that is still ongoing.

In our recent newsletter, we introduced you to the Muslim Community Center of the East Bay (MCC), located in Pleasanton, which has partnered with ACCFB since the early days of the pandemic. They grew their food program from a small pantry housed in a broom closet to reach more people. Sister Aminah (left), who leads these efforts at MCC, has been working with dozens of volunteers to meet the explosive growth in demand for their support. The program now offers a wide array of services, including a drive-through food distribution and a home delivery food program for folks who need food but don’t have transportation.

Throughout 2020 and into 2021, they worked tirelessly with vigor and passion to respond to community needs exacerbated by the pandemic. Then, the refugee crisis exploded late last summer. That’s when according to Sister Aminah, “My whole world turned upside down all over again.”

With the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban began aggressively reclaiming territory, and many citizens fled their homes and communities. It was all over the news here, with footage showing tens of thousands of people making their way to the Kabul airport, seeking passage to safety. Thousands  were headed right here to California, which welcomed more refugees than any other US state. And, in particular, Alameda County, where an Afghan community was waiting with open arms.

As refugees began to arrive, MCC jumped into action. Betzy Mundo, the ACCFB Program Coordinator who works directly with MCC, reached out to Sister Aminah with that all-important question: “What do you need?” Our team began sourcing culturally appropriate foods like garbanzo beans, lentils, flatbread, tomato paste, and rice to supplement the produce and pantry staples they were already getting.

MCC already worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) before the crisis hit, regularly supporting with 2-3 refugee families a month. Since last summer, that partnership has expanded to include the Jewish Community Center, San Ramon Valley Islamic Center, and Catholic Charities. Together, these organizations have helped hundreds of families resettle and start building their lives again.

While food can be a universally comforting thing, especially during periods of transition and trauma, starting a new life in a new country requires a lot more than groceries. Newly arriving families need to be picked up from airports and have comfortable places to stay. MCC received a capacity grant from ACCFB to buy a van to help pick up supplies for their distributions. The van also allows volunteers to deliver furniture, kitchen equipment, toiletries, linens, toys for kids, and even bicycles so folks can have their own transportation. Betzy has also helped Sister Aminah source diapers, a much-needed and costly budget item for families arriving with young children.

Challenges remain and will continue to impact newly arrived families and individuals for a long time to come. Beyond the difficulty of being in a new country and potentially learning a new language, systemic barriers to stability still exist. Many refugees stay in donated Airbnbs or hotels. Free housing is wonderful, but what if you’re far away from a grocery store or bus stop? How do you find a job when you don’t know where you will live permanently or have access to transportation?

This crisis, which was front-page news last summer, hit our community hard and hasn’t gone away. Families are still arriving and doing their best to build a new foundation here in the East Bay while worrying about friends and family back home.

That means help is still needed and there are many ways to make a difference. Visit mcceastbay.org/refugee-support to learn about other ways to engage, volunteer, or donate.

Source: Alameda County Food Bank | March 25, 2022