On both a global and local level, this year we have reached and helped a record number of refugees for our organization. Our work this year has ranged from COVID-19 relief all the way to educational scholarships to mental health services.
Updated December 2020.
Our local work has expanded this year to reach more refugees in the Inland Empire. This year, refugees were heavily impacted by COVID-19. Some of our community members were diagnosed with COVID-19 and/or had COVID-19 like symptoms.
Our team was able to provide medication and food for families in this situation, since they had no other way of getting these supplies. We also delivered over 40 food boxes to local families, which were filled with fresh groceries, as well as sanitation-related supplies such as masks, thermometers, and hand sanitizer. Our immediate aid has impacted hundreds of refugees residing in Riverside County, who otherwise would not have any additional help.
Due to COVID-19, many local refugees’ struggled to pay their rent. Through our donations and connections, our team was able to help those who were struggling.
In addition, we have still been holding weekly ESL classes via Zoom for ~15 refugee women residing in Riverside County. These women have made community connections with one another and have reported an increase in literacy and feeling more comfortable conversing in English.
In early 2020, in partnership with the Refugee Advocacy Club at UCR, we connected refugees interested in professional development, with local mentors. We were able to establish over 15 employment mentorships, where mentors helped refugees with job searches, resume writing, and interview skills.
With our women’s entrepreneurship initiative, we were able to support two refugee women-run businesses. One of them, Taste of Afghanistan, is an Afghan catering business. The second business utilizes women’s artisanship skills to create and sell clothing and jewelry online. This initiative empowers women entrepreneurship and allow them to bring their vision to life.
On both a local and global level, we have helped and impacted the lives of over 700 refugees.
Through our donations and help from volunteers, we have been able to deliver over $135,000 worth of aid and services to refugees. This aid includes shoes, diapers, food boxes, masks, thermometers, backpacks, blankets, scholarships, ESL classes, tutoring services, mental health workshops, as well as mentorships.
On a global scale, we have been able to help hundreds of refugees in Turkey and Syria. Much of our aid went to makeshift camps located in Izmir, Turkey. These camps lack clean water and basic supplies like backpacks.
Many of the children do not have access to education as well. From our donations and volunteers, we were able to provide masks, diapers, clean water, shoes, and blankets worth thousands of dollars.
In addition, we partnered with the LEGO Foundation to provide free legos to refugee children in Turkey. These legos would stimulate many of the kids’ mind and creativity, especially during this pandemic.
Additionally, we have been able to provide 5 scholarships for refugee girls in Turkey, in order to sponsor and support their education. We granted the Gurbuz Yildiz Memorial Scholarship to Ravandur Cuma, a Syrian refugee and now activist in Turkey. We also were able to sponsor another Syrian girl to go back to school.
Additionally, we have pledged two scholarships to three refugee girls studying science and engineering, with support from ISCA technologies and Wind Engineers companies.
Glocally Connected also has done advocacy work on a global level. Dr Selin Nielsen was able to talk about and advocate for refugees at the United Nations., as well as in Washington D.C.
We were able to deliver over 1000 masks to refugees, both globally and locally. We were able to do this from handmade masks from our volunteers as well as donations.
With the help of our volunteers and donations, we were able to provide food and medication for COVID-19 infected community members, as well as other refugee families affected by COVID-19. We also delivered items such as masks, informational pamphlets, thermometers, and disinfectants.
In partnership with Inlandia Institute, “The Stranger is My Friend” is a compilation of works written by refugee women and children. It focuses on their feelings living in a country that resembles home.
