[RP TownTalk] Holiday Giving - Material Donations for Carry the Future (Refugee Support in Greece)

[A. Spain]

Hi Neighbors -

A running buddy of mine, Susannah, is headed to Greece to support the
Yazidi refugee community, currently living in tent camps in the North.
While her personal ask is for diaper funds, she is also collecting baby
carriers and warm clothing for infants and toddlers.  As a newborn mom,
even with just hand-me-downs, I am overflowing with clothing and gear. I
also cannot fathom caring for an infant or small child under such cold and
difficult conditions.

I am putting together a bundle of carriers and warm weather infant and
small child gear to send with Susannah. She and I will meet up on Tuesday.
If you find yourself with baby carriers, hats, coats, fleece, and other
warm things to spare, I will have a drop spot on my porch for the next
couple of days. Please email me offline if you'd like to make a drop (near
Whole Foods complex on Route 1). Thank you.

Peace,
Alison Spain
Riverdale


Susannah's Message:

In a week I am heading to Greece as a representative of Carry the Future to
serve refugees at a camp in Northern Greece. Our team of 4 will be working
at an incredible space that serves well over 1000 Yazidi refugees. The camp
is over capacity and in danger of halting diaper distributions.

You see, in refugee camps, an item can only be distributed if there is
enough for everyone. The stress and despair of need create an engine of
self-preservation and survival. This natural tendency makes the management
of distributions, as we call them, complicated, at times.

Our team will work with a designated budget to leave aid with the Camp, but
as in the past, it has always been meaningful to me to be a vehicle of
giving for my peers and leave behind even MORE aid from all of us.

I'd like to leave $1000 + of diapers in addition to the aid CTF will
provide. Even having a single pack of diapers to oneself is a luxury at a
Camp. All our volunteers have witnessed the horror of 1 diaper a day, or
none; rashes; parents using clothing for diapers and such. Don't feel
inadequate if you feel you can contribute $5-10 and not much more. You're
making a difference and this is not a contest.

Should you wish to contribute, it is my honor to make the purchases in
Greece on behalf of us all. Thanks for taking a moment to read this and
thank you, to so many of you, who have been supportive over the past two
years of this cause that resonates with me.

I have a place in my heart for the Yazidi peoples. They are a resilient,
innovative population, largely from Iraq, and to be frank, they have
directly suffered and continue to suffer genocide committed by the hands of
ISIL. They have been hunted, abused, kidnapped, starved, sold, murdered,
forced to fight for ISIL, raped and tortured. There isn't a crime against
humanity that hasn't ravaged their communities. Asia and Media who I will
visit first in Germany, are Yazidi. They are now safe. They are no longer
refugees, they are immigrants.

Please keep our team in your thoughts as we embark on our heavy but
meaningful mission. We are proudly Carry the Future's 50th team to go serve.

In solidarity,
Susannah
Venmo: @susannah-monteith
Paypal: susannah.tarpley at gmail.com
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