Miry's List 2020 Annual Report

A movement of neighbors and friends dedicated to welcoming new arrival families into our community through inspired crowdsourcing solutions.

MIRY’S LIST

The annual Miry’s List Impact Report is designed by Go As If Creative.

Original illustrations by Eric O. Potma.

“Now more than ever, we are grateful for the feeling of home we can bring to ourselves and others.”

-Miry Whitehill, Founder of Miry’s List

THE MISSION

Connecting communities with new arrival refugee families

Page 14

O N T E N T S

IMPACT

A glance at the numbers of people served and gifts given

Page 22

2020 DEDICATION……………………………..……........5

FORWARD................................................................7

A LETTER FROM MIRY……………………...........…..11

MISSION STATEMENT………………………..………..13

7 CORE VALUES OF MIRY’S LIST .................15

JOURNEY OF A REFUGEE……………………………16

REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT IN THE U.S.…......17

THE NEED: WHY WE’RE HERE….......................18

THE APPROACH: HOW WE WORK………..……20

2020 IMPACT AT A GLANCE……………………….22

HOW TO GIVE ....24

ON THRIVING…………………………………………..…..27

A MESSAGE TO OUR 2020 GRADUATES……31

JOIN THE WELCOMING CIRCLE……..…………33

2020 ANA HUNA AWARD RECIPIENTS……….35

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB

Heroes feeding heroes

Page 37

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB IN 2020………..37

A LETTER FROM CHRISTY: NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB AT HOME………..………..…….......38

HEROES FEEDING HEROES: SERVING

FRONTLINE WORKERS.......................................42

A FAMILY INTERVIEW: THE AMIRI FAMILY…………………………………………………………...46

A LETTER FROM SUSAN: YOU ARE AMAZING….............................................................48

OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY:

A CYCLE OF GIVING 50

HERE WE GROW: 2020 BY THE NUMBERS….51

2020 REVENUE & EXPENSES………..……………..52

THANK YOU: OUR PARTNERS….…………...........53

RECIPE: AFGHAN CINNAMON BUNS..………..55

Note to our hive, from Miry: Here at Miry’s List, our 2020 rededication to our core value - “Ana Huna” / “I’m Here” – was born from a letter that was written on November 12, 2016 by Diane S. Lilly, my beloved Bubby.

Bubby was deeply passionate about helping resettling refugee families, and she modeled this for me from a young age. She taught me about the importance of hand-written letters, and many more things about how to treat people. Bubby helped me to become the woman I am today. Her letter was the first of now thousands of welcome letters sent to newcomers by their new American neighbors through Miry's List. Bubby passed away in 2020, and I attended her funeral by Zoom along with hundreds of people in my family and her lifelong circle of friends. She was incredibly loved and I miss her every single day. Her words here are her legacy.

Miry, age 7, in the warm embrace of her Bubby at home in her kitchen in Potomac, Maryland

2020 DEDICATION TO ANA HUNA

By Diane Lilly aka Bubby, Miry’s grandmother

To Those Who Have Come to the United States in Search of a Better Life:

Welcome! I am an American-born woman whose grandparents came to this country from Russia in 1909. They, like you, were leaving a life of fear and repression in the hopes of finding a place where they could live in peace and safety. My grandparents came here with almost nothing except the clothing on their backs and a small suitcase....no money, no education, no English....just hope and the willingness to learn how to fit into this country.

They took classes in English and worked very hard to provide for their family, just as I'm sure you do. It was not an easy life, but they knew that if they kept working and learning, it would get better. And it did!

We are living through some difficult times with the election of a new President. He has said some very terrible things about immigrants, especially Muslims. I hope you will understand that he does not speak for all Americans. I believe that most of us are very upset with the very idea that he's going to deport all the undocumented immigrants* and ban Muslims from entering the country.....and so many other ridiculous ideas that are very

un-American. That's not who we are. We are a country that has been a refuge for millions of people like my grandparents, and for you and your family. We have the blessing of living in one of the most accepting places in the world, and we have to protect that from people who would turn away those who are escaping from terrible violence in their home countries. People like you are entitled to be treated with respect and to be welcomed into our communities.

I hope that you will feel somewhat comforted by my words. They reflect the true feelings of everyone I know. I encourage you to become acquainted with English, which is a difficult language; it is vital for you to be able to speak, read and write in English so that you can find your way around and be able to express your needs.

Again, welcome to the country you hope to call home.

Welcome to the country you hope to call home.

Jenna Fischer, Secretary of the Board, Miry’s List

2020 FORWARD

By Jenna Fischer, Secretary of Board of Directors, Miry’s List

In 2016, my husband Lee announced he’d seen a post on Facebook asking people to donate supplies to recently resettled refugee families in El Cajon, CA. We’d spoken of our desire to be of service — to use our time and resources to help others. This felt like a great place to start. We went through the lists, and began packing boxes of donations.

At the drop site, Lee learned of the ongoing need for cleaning supplies, and we decided to organize our own charity drive. We created boxes for 24 families filled with cleaning supplies, toiletries, new towels, bathmats, kitchen items and so on a sort of “starter box”. We did this with the help of our friends – our hive. They dropped off items from our lists, we packed the 24 boxes and, this time, we drove to El Cajon ourselves and made the deliveries.

We met with families and heard their stories first hand – usually over a cup of tea. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to flee my country and have to settle in a new place, with all new customs, new foods, new smells, a new language. Everyone I met seemed to be far more positive than I think I would have been. It was beyond inspiring to see the enthusiasm they felt for their new lives in America, their gratitude for being safe, and their

resolve to begin again. It made me want to do whatever I could to make their journey easier.

During this same trip, I noticed that a number of the children didn’t have proper shoes. School was starting soon and I knew how important a good pair of athletic shoes was for kids, as well as school supplies. So, I called PUMA and I got them to donate 200 pairs of shoes. At the same time, we called our HIVE and collected 200 backpacks filled with school supplies. We loaded up another U-Haul and drove to El Cajon to make the deliveries.

It was on this trip that we met Miry. She was there to help distribute the shoes and backpacks. And as anyone knows, once you meet Miry, you don’t un-meet Miry. She’s one of the most driven and inspiring people I’ve ever met. She is called to action and she calls everyone she meets to action.

After our long delivery day, two residents of El Cajon, Rafid and Anfal, hosted an incredible meal for the volunteers. This is one of the perks of doing deliveries. We had a long conversation with Miry, where we expressed our desire to do more. I said, “Okay, we collected clothes and coats, we collected toiletries, we’ve collected shoes and backpacks, what do you need us to

When we share our talents and stories and bond as a community we can accomplish great things.

collect next?” She said “Jenna, I need money. Can you help me raise money for Miry’s List?”

And then, she told me her vision for Miry’s List, which included but went beyond giving away supplies. She talked about creating a system of wish lists by which families could curate a list of their specific needs and people could send items directly to those families. She talked about a supper club where people would pay to attend a dinner catered by a refugee family – the family would get paid to cook, thus creating employment and a community of people supporting one another. She went on and on. She talked for probably an hour. Each idea seemed more daunting and idealistic and harder to do than the next.

Just a few years later, all of these programs exist, and more than that, they are thriving.

But, guess what? She has more ideas. Miry doesn’t want people to arrive in this country in a deficit. She wants to change that. And, she wants to create more jobs. She hopes that Miry’s List will be able to employ refugees to run these services that help refugees. She doesn’t just want to give away boxes of supplies. She wants to offer

services that help families thrive.

My journey with Miry’s List started almost four years ago with an innocent drop-off at a church. Now I’m on the board of directors for Miry’s List and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of the team that turns Miry’s ideas into reality. Now more than ever, we need to come together to support our fellow human beings. When we share our talents and stories and bond as a community, we can accomplish great things. Miry’s List is proof of that. u

Work in progress as artist Sam Streets of Here I Be creates a special iteration of Miry’s List annual Ana Huna Awards

Miry Whitehill, Founder & Executive Director

A LETTER FROM MIRY

Friends and neighbors, Survive. Hive. Thrive. These are pillars of Miry’s List programming (which you’ll learn more about later in this report), and they represent the three modes of being that our families, team and community of helpers dance between day by day.

Each of us is somewhere in the Survive/Hive/Thrive cycle at all times. When I am surviving, I’ll lean in for support. When you are thriving, you have help to give. Because we’re at different points in this cycle, we can help one another, and create meaningful connections. It’s a virtuous cycle. But what happens if all of us are in “survive” mode at once? Enter 2020, a year Time magazine called “The Worst Year Ever.”

In 2020, each of us learned in a new way (but not necessarily for the first time) what it feels like to be afraid of the danger on the other side of the door. As communities, families, and individuals, we faced heartache, anxiety and unimaginable loss. Many of these losses we may never repair or heal — we will just, at some point, learn to live with them.

The year brought heartache, tragedy, and anxiety of the unknown.

The needs of all vulnerable populations, including the resettling refugee families that Miry’s List serves, were exacerbated by the devastation brought to us in 2020. And that’s precisely where the Miry’s List Hive, our community of support, came in. Our Hive showed up and threw down harder than any year in our organization’s history.

In the isolation, we broke through and created connections, virtually. In the absence of what was known, we learned how to listen, adapt, and jump into action. In the uncovering of new pain points, we curated resources, created collaborations and built infrastructure.

The Miry’s List Hive is led by our incredible Dream Team staff and hundreds of dedicated volunteers. Each member of the Hive performs a critical role in making the impact and continuity of Miry’s List possible. The Hive is powered by our generous donors, whose support fuels us, turning our efforts into sustainable programming.

In December 2020 we enrolled our 500th new arrival family in the Miry’s List program, and we enrolled our 600th family just 6.5 months later! This impact is made possible because of the culture of philanthropy infused into Miry’s List. The family-to-family connections and intimacy of this Hive are essential to mission delivery.

I’ve been tired since 2016. How about you? Let’s keep going anyway. The families who arrive in 2021 and beyond need us more than ever.

Here for you. Here beside you. Here because of you.

P.S. I absolutely love to hear from you. Get in touch with me at miry@miryslist.org.

Abdullah, member of the team since 2016

MIRY’S LIST: MISSION

STATEMENT

Refugee families come to the United States seeking a safe haven from violence and persecution in their home countries. They leave behind family and friends, as well as virtually everything they own.

Many Americans, seeing these families in their communities, wonder: What can I do to help?

Miry’s List is a nonprofit organization that provides a mechanism for people to directly help new arrival refugee families with the incredible challenge of resettlement in the US – we help these families connect with caring people, basic necessities, and services that make this process less isolating and less intimidating.

Huda packing supplies for new arrival families

Photo by Shiouwen Hong

7 CORE VALUES OF MIRY’S LIST

1. Fair shot and equity. Every family and individual is important and deserving of a fair shot at a good life.

2. Hive mind. We celebrate our differences, they make us unique and complete.

3. Safe and encouraging. Fostering an environment where its safe to share life experiences and heal trauma, not through compartmentalizing, but through sharing.

4. Civility leads. Encouraging the demonstration of kindness to develop more compassionate and empowered leaders.

5. Consent. Honoring our ability to choose. We are unique individuals who proactively opt-in to our lives.

6. Presence. We are here and we all belong. We are here for our families. Our families are here, and we can help.

NEW 7TH CORE VALUE: 2020

7. Philanthropy. The fuel of Miry’s List. Our mission is driven by intimate, family-to-family connections. Philanthropy is essential to mission delivery.

ref·u·gee

/refyoojē/noun

a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

The average length of stay in a refugee camp is

At this stage in their journey, refugees are screened, fngerprint and iris scanned, and face to face interviewed.

Once they arrive in the United States, the refugees are screened and interviewed again by the Department of Homeland Security and Bio-metric checks are done.

2 years is the minimum time between application and resettlement for refugees. This process begins only while being in a country separate from their country of origin.

HOW IT WORKS: REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT IN THE U.S.

FOUR YEARS OF CUTBACKS AND CLOSURES 2017-2020

NATIONAL:

A third of resettlement agencies in the country have closed since 2017 (over 100 offices).

Source: Refugee Council USA

OUR STATE OF CALIFORNIA:

11 out of 28 licensed resettlement agencies in California have closed since 2017.

Source: Welcoming America

OUR CITY OF LOS ANGELES:

5 out of 9 licensed resettlement agencies in Los Angeles have closed since 2017.

Source: PRI The World

THE NEED: WHY WE’RE HERE

Under "normal" circumstances, Miry’s List provides essential needs, ranging from beds, to diapers, to cleaning supplies, for these new American families. During the COVID-19 crisis, resettling refugees - who are often low-income or otherwise part of “high-risk populations” - are uniquely vulnerable.

Resettling refugee families are uniquely vulnerable to isolation and stress inducing experiences. After fleeing their homes, sacrificing everything, and having their lives, education and careers disrupted, resettling families arrive to the U.S. to rebuild their lives. While resettling families yearn for community and social connections upon arrival, COVID-19 greatly limited those opportunities. Resettling students and parents are especially impacted and their emotional well-being is important to address.

Community closures and social distancing requirements have resulted in a reality where resettling refugee families have limited opportunities to meet their new American neighbors, integrate into their new communities, and practice speaking English. School is typically full of big events, emotions and opportunities to make friends, but COVID-19 restrictions have left resettling students in deep isolation. Students are unable to gather and be social with peers, missing out on conversations and connections vital for their emotional well-being. Miry’s List programming fills this void by connecting resettling families virtually with their new neighbors to socialize, make new friends, practice

English and develop confidence and emotional wellbeing. Our COVID-19 Emergency Action identifies and responds to resettling families with urgent needs, focusing on two critical areas: 1) supplies for safely isolating at home and 2) virtual learning, school supplies, laptops for resettling students. We address these families' needs through a combination of appeals to individuals, institutional funders, corporate partners, and coordination with community volunteers.

As we isolate in our homes, socially distant from our closest ones, Miry’s List remains fundamentally committed to ensuring resettling refugee parents, children, babies and teens are not forgotten or left behind. We work to ensure that they continue to feel support from their surrounding community. u

Miry’s List remains fundamentally committed to ensuring resettling refugee parents, children, babies and teens are not forgotten or left behind.

THE APPROACH: HOW WE WORK

School supply kits: the love of strangers, neighbors, and friends in tangible form. July, 2020 at the Miry’s List Welcome Workshop in Los Angeles, California.

SURVIVE

Responding to new arrival families’ urgent needs upon arrival.

Survival mode is isolating, scary, and exhausting. Brand new arrival families are in survival mode, often living in hotel rooms or sparsely-furnished apartments, completely overwhelmed. The goal in this initial Survive phase Is for each family member to rest, and feel safe.

Surrounding new arrival families with a community support system.

Once a family has moved into their permanent home, Our compassionate community surrounds our families with the people, programming, and supplies needed to rebuild their lives and prepare for the future.

THRIVE

Inviting new arrival families to join in creating a community support system for other new arrival families.

Once families have fully settled into their new permanent homes and lives, they are invited to join our community support system, with a balance of giving and receiving, increasing their sense of wellbeing and belonging. In this phase, our families feel safe, empowered, hopeful, and supported.

HOW TO GIVE: TOGETHER WE ARE AMAZING

The needs of resettling families have been compounded due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Your donations at this critical time have enabled us to sustain our core programming with contactfree delivery and virtual events as we’ve supported more than 200 new arrival families who have arrived since March 2020.

• A donation of $750 will fund the programming cost to support one new family for the entire year.

• A monthly donation of $62.50 will allow us to plan ahead and potentially reduce the overall cost of family support.

Every bit helps, and whatever amount you are able to give gets us closer to reaching our goal.

We all could use a second chance in 2021, and you can help others rebuild their lives by giving through Miry’s List. give.miryslist.org

Welcome team member Abdullah, age 6, decorates school supply kits to be shipped to resettling students from our Welcome Workshop in Los Angeles, California.

Ahmed Abedy, Director of Donor Retention

A LETTER FROM AHMED ON THRIVING

By Ahmed Abedy, Director of Donor Retention, Miry’s List

Dear friends,

Like many of the families served by Miry's List, my family and I arrived in the US in late 2018. It was dramatic and life-changing.

I am a dad who served the US mission in Iraq for 17 years. My job exposed me and my family to real danger. I lived in fear of the daily likelihood that I wouldn't make it back home in the evening.

Back in Iraq, it was me, my beautiful wife and our 3 kids. In 2016, a lifechanging event happened: My kids lost their mom after a severe fight with cancer. This tragedy, and living through it, is just indescribable. At the time, we had no grandparents around and no local relatives, so I had to distribute my kids among friends' houses. The time was filled with cultural and social struggles, and finally I met a wonderful woman who elevated our family and brought hope back into our lives! She became my 2nd wife, and stepmother to my children. She is physically disabled from a gunshot to her leg she endured coming back home from school. She lives in chronic physical pain and I am here she is here for us. Together, we have built a new life for ourselves in America.

Being part of the Miry's List community has been a calming, hopeful relief to my family's past 17 years of difficulties and pain. Joining this community meant the world to

team to do my part paying it forward us. And it isn't just the housewarming presents and essential supplies we received to help us start our lives over. Also, it's the love, emotional support, and kindness. This was far beyond our expectations. Miry's List lifted us from below and raised us to the highest point in the sky by showing us this support.

As soon as we were enrolled in Miry's List, life began changing. Little by little, we began thriving. Within the first month, I was offered a very prestigious job with the San Diego Association of Government as a Contracts and Procurement Analyst. A dream job for me, transitioning us to self-sufficiency and making good use of my Masters in Engineering to benefit our new community. Our kids started to pick up the language really quick and now they often enjoy laughing at their dad’s accent! Just a few months after our arrival, we welcomed our 4th child, the first American-born member of our family.

Can you imagine my feeling of gratitude to see my kids growing up in a community shaped by a model of kindness, generosity and human connection? Once, my eldest kids told me they want to be like Miry when they grow up!

Once we graduated from the program, I was invited to join the team to do my part paying it

Being part of the Miry’s List community has been a calming, hopeful relief to my family’s past 17 years of difficulties and pain.

forward and helping our new families. At that point, I thought Miry's List was just Miry and a few dedicated volunteers filling our world with their unlimited love. I soon learned how wrong I was.

I learned that Miry's List is made up of a huge network of wonderful people, yourself included, that Miry and the team built in the last 4 years. I learned that Miry's List helps families create a wishlist, then they assigned the lists to dedicated volunteers who help ensure that each family's needs are met.

Together we are creating an unprecedented connection between American people and their resettling neighbors. I want you to know that although you might not get a direct thank you from the families themselves, know that they are deeply grateful, as we all are. You are here behind the scenes, changing people’s lives with every gift purchased and dollar donated.

Each week, we share our Hive Around Five, featuring five new arrival families who need our help. Take a few moments of joy and send a gift to 1, 2, or all of the families featured right here below. Don’t forget to write a gift message, because the family will read it and know you are there. u

Dream team members Ahmed and Rafid pose for a quick selfie while setting up the apartment of a new arrival family

THANK

Mohammad, 9, volunteering with his family to pack COVID-19 hygiene kits and home learning supplies for new arrival families

Amar Dass, Director of Program Development

MESSAGE TO OUR 2020 GRADUATES

By Amar Dass, Director of Program Development, Miry’s List

Dear Class of 2020,

My name is Amar Dass, and I’m the Director of Program Development at Miry’s List. Congratulations on your graduation! It’s an honor to celebrate this major milestone in your lives. I am very proud of each of you. I hope you recognized your recent accomplishments and gave yourself a big celebratory hug. You’ll be entering a new chapter in your life, filled with new adventures, memories, and friendships. I am here to talk to you as a person who cares about your future in the future of this country. We are currently going through challenging times in this country. Some of us, including myself, are feeling confused, frustrated, sad, and angry. Learning to navigate this world is not taught in schools, but from experiences. We must learn to expect the unexpected, and find ways to celebrate it. Do not let difficult experiences stop your education or stop you from achieving your goals.

Ever since I was a little girl, I had big dreams. I wanted to make a difference in this world. I thought other kids went to school because they had big dreams like me. I was wrong. It was challenging for me to go to school and feel that I was the only one who was passionate about my education and the world. Other kids did not understand my passion.

It was also challenging to go to school where no one looked like me. I was judged for being different and for looking different from the majority of the kids in my schools. For the longest time I felt lonely and invisible. Because of how I was treated, I became silent. By being silent, I gave my powers away to other people. I wasn’t living my life. I was pretending to live a life that wasn’t mine.

As I got older, I met people I clicked with. The more I surrounded myself with people that reflected who I want to be and how I want to feel, the more confident I became.

Being a 1st generation American added more challenges to my life. My parents did not come to this country with money and college degrees. It was up to me, being the oldest child, to help my family navigate an uneasy life. At a young age, I knew my life was already better then what my parents experienced when they were kids. I never understood why kids my schools didn’t care about their education. After all, I knew going to school to learn was something that many children around the world to not have the opportunity to experience, and it’s something that many of these children dream of experiencing.

Learning to navigate this world is not taught in schools, but from experiences.

I had to be my own role model and inspire myself. With focus and determination, I prevailed over all challenges. Every experience was a lesson. Some experiences showed me what I was capable of handling. Other experiences taught me how to be more selfish and to speak up for myself. I know some of you might not believe the things I just said.

Life is not easy for everyone. You probably compare your life to one of your classmates' lives and things that they are leading such happy and easy lives. Do not compare your life to anyone else. Trust me when I say that things will get better, as long as you keep walking forward.

Once again, I am proud of each of you for doing something so extraordinary, and doing it so well. You have accomplished so much already, and you’re going to do more amazing things in your life. Continue to inspire and challenge yourself, because one day, you’ll be inspiring many people.

Your greatest contribution to this world is simply just being yourself. When the world feels like an emotional roller coaster, just remember to focus on the good because the good gets better. Take care of yourself, enjoy your life, congratulations again. I am always by your side. u

BE

Dream team members Husna and Huda packing essential COVID-19 hygiene kits for families who arrived in 2020

Photo by Shiouwen Hong

Artist Sam Streets of Here I Be created a special iteration of Miry’s List annual Ana Huna Awards

Ana huna for the hummus

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB

FOOD IS LOVE IN ACTION

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB

2020 BY THE NUMBERS

22

AT-HOME NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB EVENTS

1,694

PICNIC DINNERS SERVED

A LETTER FROM CHRISTY

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB

By Christy Anderson, Director, New Arrival Supper Club

In the middle of March 2020, I started receiving calls, then emails and texts, seemingly one after another, in just a 24-hour period: The hosts of our upcoming New Arrival Supper Club events were all letting me know they would be postponing the dinners they were hosting due to COVID-19. At the time I thought, “Oh well —we are coming off a record supper club year in 2019. We will be back up and running as normal for sure in a month or two...”

But of course, as the months dragged on, there was not much hope for normalcy in sight. I had many sleepless nights and honestly shed some tears over the overwhelming weight of keeping the supper club going when we couldn’t physically be together. Our chef families and the organization as a whole depend on the revenue generated from our events. Much to my relief, after some brainstorming with the team and getting as creative as we possibly could, we came up with a way to continue the New Arrival Supper Club program in a socially distant, safe manner.

200 CUSTOM SPICE KITS DISTRIBUTED

$34,392 WAGES PAID TO RESETTLING CHEFS

Our large family of supporters stepped in to help, reaching out, like family members do, to find ways to hold us up during a difficult time. From Participant Media calling me in April and committing to continue to fund us through the pandemic, to folks driving over an hour just to pick up a meal from one of our new curb side events, our supporters showed up in a way that deeply touched my soul.

The reality is that the feelings of love, comfort and unity that our preCOVID supper club events created were just as strong for our supporters as they were for the Miry’s List team. These events continue to serve as a powerful ambassador for the Miry’s List mission, a way to see love in action: coming together as a community to make a unified and compassionate world a reality through a shared meal.

The power of this experience, the amazing culinary talent of our chefs and the passion of the Miry’s List team created bonds with our supporters that will last a lifetime. I can say, without a doubt, that here at Miry’s List, we have lifelong supporters who will sit with us at our table to welcome our newest neighbors, no matter what life throws our way. Yalla. u

Christy Anderson, Director, New Arrival Supper Club

Photos by Ryan Gobuddy

Isn’t

The 2020 New Arrival Supper Club Mothers Day Brunch picnic at home in partnership with Spread Mediterranean Kitchen, a local small business in downtown Los Angeles

HEROES FEEDING HEROES

Serving Frontline Workers

In partnership with Participant Media, Miry’s List was able serve dinner to the incredible humans staffing the COVID-19 ICU at UCLA Medical Center and COVID-19 testing centers. These are frontline workers doing the hardest work.

It’s relentless, and they’ve been battling COVID-19, caring for patients and their families, for a year now. And together

with the great folks at Participant, we got to show them some extra love and feed them dinner.

This is a full-court press approach to feeding, loving and caring for our healthcare heroes who are putting their expertise, time, energy, and life, into looking after those who are suffering most in our community.

Huda Abu Gharbih, Director of Family Services Arabic at Miry’s List with her sons, Qassim 10, Mohammad, 7, and Abdullah, 4

Photograph by Christina Gandolfo

Our team is so proud of this work feeding healthcare workers on the frontlines of COVID-19 and who are caring for others.

This work breathes life into everyone at Miry’s List. Not just Maaysa, Abdul, Christy and the other team members working on New Arrival Supper Club but everybody at Miry’s List is lifted and is heartened by this extension of our program. u

Photo by Camly Nguyen

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB IN 2020 BY THE NUMBERS

390 MEALS SERVED TO FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS AT HOSPITALS AND TESTING CENTERS

$74,207

REVEUE GENERATED FROM SALES & PARTNERSHIPS

$19,036 DONATED FROM SALES TO MIRY’S LIST CORE PROGRAMMING

A FAMILY INTERVIEW: THE AMIRI FAMILY

How was your feeling when you arrived in the U.S and you met the Miry’s List community?

We arrived in the U.S with no one. We left all our families and friends back home. By the time we just sat down around the table with the Miry’s List community and some Afghan people who serve the new arrivals. I felt that we are not alone. We have the kindest community who supports us. This is a blessing of God that we are part of this community.

What was the important help and support you received from Miry’s List?

All the items we received were the emergency ones that arrived at the right time. We didn’t have kitchen supplies to cook, no laptop that our children could do job hunting or start the process of college enrollment, no bed sheets and pillows on our beds and no TV to watch. It has been such a grateful time for us that we received all the mentioned items at our door from the people who we have not met yet. We can survive now. And we hope gradually everything will be better.

How did the gifts you received help you and your family to survive?

At the beginning we spent our savings on the air tickets from Afghanistan to the U.S. We got the items exactly at the right time that we needed. But still we need carpets, a dining table set and a set of couches and coffee table.

How can you explain the importance of such organizations helping new arrivals?

These kinds of organizations can be really helpful in the first stage of new arrival lives in the U.S. The families can’t afford to provide all their needed household necessities. These organizations help them start their lives smoothly and can have a normal life to feel safe and comfortable.

What is one sentence you can say about Miry’s List?

I cherish the presence of Miry’s List for new arrivals for making us feel at home and helps us feel we have everything and everyone we need in the U.S.

LETTER FROM SUSAN YOU ARE AMAZING

By Susan Olsen, Donor & Volunteer Family Ambassador, Miry’s List

You did it — AGAIN! You helped another new family make a home in America, gift by gift. You cleared the Khalili’s list — an iron, a juicer, blankets, microwaves, pots and pans, and more. And plenty of gift cards so that they are able to make purchases as they need them this year, a year that’s hard for everyone, and incredibly difficult for some.

Thank you! You are amazing.

Friends, your generosity was especially poignant for me as I traveled home last week to be by my mom’s side as she was dying. She was already in the hospital for hernia surgery in December when I sent out the first email to you all — and asked you to find room in your hearts this holiday to support one more newly arriving family. By the first week of the New Year, when you had made nearly every purchase, my mom’s doctors had discovered metastatic brain cancer, and my brother and sister and I had decided to bring her home from the hospital to die with the help of Hospice, her children by her side. She passed early in the morning of January 15th. And she is now no doubt, according to her good friend and minister, “dancing with angels” and at peace.

Whatever your beliefs about angels, etc., my mom embodied goodness,

and lived a life on earth that was defined by generosity, compassion, and openness. Angelic, by any measure. As I wrote to you last Summer, at the start of the first Miry’s List campaign, my parents' sponsorship of a Cambodian family in the mid-1970’s was formative in shaping my understanding of love — its transcendent power, its boundlessness — and family. For my mom, the idea of family was sacred and expansive. Nothing was more important than family, and there was always room in our family for one more member.

You may never really know how your love — however you show it — will change a life. But condolences for my mom this weekend were filled with testaments to the lifelong impact of her good works. These are words of thanks from two members of my mom’s “family” who arrived from Cambodia over forty years ago:

“Myrna renewed our faith, gave us hope and love while we were trying to rebuild our lives here. Words cannot express our gratitude for Myrna's love for all of us. When I am writing this email, my mind is flashing back to July 22,1975. Your Mom, the Williams, Father Swanson, Bob and a few of our friends came to welcome our

You may never really know how your love — however you show it — will change a life.

family at Dulles Airport. Since then Myrna became my sister beside my older sister who got killed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. I love her dearly. She is beautiful inside out. She spent a lot of time to help my family settle down in United States. Thanks to the Olsen family for welcoming us with open arms. I can never thank you all enough for your help.”

Thank you again, my dear friends, for answering the call to help the Khalili family — as they, like the

Reang’s years before, start their lives over again in a new country. And thank you, too, for allowing me to share both the news of my mom’s passing and a brief insight into who she was while she lived, what she inspires in me, and the legacy that she leaves. u

In loving memory of Myrna Olsen

A CYCLE OF GIVING

Financial sustainability doesn’t happen in isolation by finding a new revenue strategy. Rather, greater sustainability is achieved when there is alignment between the impact an organization has and the revenue strategy that supports it. Therefore, our sustainability work at Miry’s List is focused on our business model, understanding the true costs of each activity we engage in and the impact it delivers. By aligning these components, the impact and financial strategies become reinforcing – growing and evolving as Miry’s List achieves its mission.

What is “sustainable” is constantly changing as the environment in which Miry’s List operates changes. Sustainability is an orientation, not a destination. As such, our process promotes shared leadership over the business model and a common understanding of the Miry’s List’s impact and financial drivers. We leverage tools and templates to allow leaders to share insights and make ongoing strategic decisions to meet this dual-bottom line of our organization.

Sustainability

By investing deeply in the development of dedicated volunteer networks and community-based infrastructure for resettling families,

Miry’s List builds capacity for and commitment to supporting refugee families.

Miry’s List is dedicated to engaging deeply with our families and individuals who have gone through the program, who often demonstrate enthusiasm and passion to pay it forward to help the families coming after them. Miry’s List’s entire Family Services staff, including Rafid and Ayman, is composed of people who themselves experienced resettlement with their families and went through Miry’s List’s programming when they arrived in the United States.

For example, Rabia Ahmadi, Director of Family Services at Miry’s List, recently received a message from a father in Sacramento that read “Thank you very much Miry’s List...I want to return the favor by participating in your program for new arrivals. If there is any newly arrived family, I would be happy to contribute. I can’t promise anything but I will try my best to find some essential stuff for them.” Our work is empowering to our recipients, fostering a culture of philanthropy, friendship, and community, and continuing the cycle of giving. u

A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT:

1,040 INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE DONATED MONEY TO MIRY’S LIST IN 2020

THANK YOU: OUR PARTNERS

FOUNDATIONS & GRANTMAKERS

California Community Foundation

Hello Neighbor

Islamic Relief USA

LA Board of Supervisors

Liberty Hill Foundation

Mattel Children’s Foundation

McKesson Foundation

Polytechnic School

Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs

The Annenberg Foundation

COMPANIES

Dr. Bronners

Friends at Work

Go As If Creative

Good Bones Consulting

iHeartMedia

LinkedIn

Mattel

Netflix

New Haven Moving Supplies

Northstar Moving

Participant Media

Ramble Salesforce

The Jane Club

Topo Chico

NAMED FUNDS

Dimassa Family Foundation

Heyman Family Fund

Kirk Family Charitable Fund

Marweld Family Fund

Milton and Ruth Berman Foundation

Raymond James Charitable Fund

Snyder White Oaks of Delaware Foundation

SRP Family Charitable Giving Fund

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Atwater Village Moms Club

Baby2Baby

Big Sunday City West

Hello Neighbor Network

Moms Club of Culver City

NELA Mamas

One Down Dog

Spread Mediterranean Kitchen

The Pile

AMBASSADORS

Emily Henderson

Evan Kleiman

Helen Hong

Jenna Fischer

Mara Wilson

Maz Jobrani

Milana Vayntrub

Rachel Bloom

Sara Benincasa

Shira Lazar

Tehran Von Ghasri

THE GREAT EQUALIZER: FOOD

RABIA JAAN’S NASHTA E DARCHIN: AFGHAN CINNAMON BUNS

Perfect served with cardamom tea or coffee. Best enjoyed with a new or old friend.

INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS

Dough:

4 cups flour

½ cup melted butter, cooled to room

temperature

1 egg

½ cup powder sugar

½ tsp. cardamom

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 cup warm milk

1 packet yeast

2 tbsp. water pinch of salt

Filling:

1.5 cup brown sugar

¼ cup cinnamon

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup chopped nuts

(optional)

Finish: Honey for drizzle

2 tbsp. melted butter

Optional: ¼ cup coarsely chopped pistachios

In a small bowl, combine yeast with 2 tbsp water and mix. Leave it on the counter to sit for 10 minutes.

Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine the egg, melted butter, vanilla, cardamom, warm milk and salt. Mix well. Add yeast and water mixture, mix until blended.

Slowly add the flour folding together until the dough is formed.

Rest the dough on the counter, cover with a kitchen towel, until it doubles in size.

While the dough is rising, mix together all ingredients for the filing in a medium bowl.

Once the dough has doubled in size, preheat the oven to 380 degrees

Forming the dough: Form the dough into a big rectangle shape about 1 inch thick, not too thin or too thick.

Spread the filing over the dough. Make sure all parts have an equal amount of filling, and don’t forget the corners.

Roll the dough across the long side of the dough

Using a new piece of sewing thread or piece of dental floss, cut the roll into ½ inch slices.

Arrange rolls, swirl side up, on a cookie sheet sprayed with oil.

Bake about 30 minutes until they double in size. Remove from oven, and allow to cool. While still warm, drizzle with honey, pistachios, and melted butter over top. Enjoy them fresh.

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