"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to live free ..." begins the poem by Emma Lazarus, inscribed on a bronze tablet on America's beloved Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
ABC News released today nearly 30 million men, women, and children were displaced by War(s) and natural disasters in 2015 - on average more than 75 every day. Yemen, Syria and Iraq had more than 1 million people flee alone. Natural disasters make up about 19 million of those - earthquakes, mud slides, floods, etc.
Those numbers are staggering - in that it could happen to anyone at any time in any place.
Yes, including America. But we are lucky here we have so many governmental and community-based efforts all over this country should that happen. Other countries do not.
What breaks my heart the most is an estimated 1/3 of those displaced persons are children - many who arrive alone. People are put in crowded, filthy and often-dangerous refugee camps.
America has taken in a drop in the bucket. And it takes an estimated three years for the U.S. to document and help refugees find homes, which is another column for sure!
Check out this web site http://www.state.gov/j/prm/ to learn more about refugees and the Billions of dollars the U.S. gives to other countries every day. For instance we gave "an additional $86 million" to South Sudan April 27.
Imagine being a 5-year-old arriving on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere, cold, scared, dirty, wet, hungry, and alone. Devastating.
What can we do? DON'T send clothes, items, water bottles, etc. Refugees literally stand on mounds of clothes that cannot be used. Items like that become unsanitary, and are not useful, or needed. Aid workers say they have received wedding dresses, Halloween costumes and winter coats in the Middle Eastern deserts!
Go to rescue.org and start there. Give 10 percent of your paycheck. We are not alone in this world, and it would be wonderful if we would just help one another.
Read this boy's story at
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