Miry's List 2021 Annual Report

MIRY’S LIST

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

Mirys

One small act of kindness creates a ripple effect. Many acts of kindness change the world.

Make an immediate, direct impact: Donate to Miry’s List to support our core programming to ensure our newest neighbors have what they need to make their homes safe, functional, and comfortable for their families. Your participation at any level sends an important message to resettling families: Your comfort matters. Your experience matters. You belong here. The best option is to make a monthly donation or multi-year grant, which allows us to plan for the future and breathe, knowing there will be more Miry’s List for the families to come. Jump in to give at miryslist.org/donate.

Engage your family: Talk to the children in your life about how to welcome newcomers in their school and classroom, particularly when they might be far from home. Remind them they can make someone’s day with a wave, smile, or simply by saying hello. In this way, kids are one of the first lines of welcome for resettling students. You can have an empowering, honest, and joyful conversation with your kid about how to be a welcomer at their school. For resources for parents, teachers, and caregivers to support having these important conversations with kids of all ages, visit our online learning center at miryslist.org/learn.

Give your time: Volunteers help our families feel seen and prioritized. Through their unique skills, talents, and passions, our volunteers lessen loneliness and provide a hopeful vision for the future. Sign up to volunteer with Miry’s List virtually or in person and invest your time into education, social support, and cultural bridging for new arrival families. Read about all the ways to volunteer at miryslist.org/volunteer.

How to Help (without even having to read this whole magazine - although you should!)

The

Art of Snail Mail: Handmade welcome cards made with love by volunteers in Cheatham, Virginia were distributed in new family welcome kits

A VISUAL REFLECTION:

Miry’s List & National Geographic In The Field

Photos by Anna Boyiazis

In 2021, Miry’s List collaborated with Anna Boyiazis, a documentary photographer and a National Geographic Society grantee based between Southern California and East Africa. Anna’s work focuses on human rights, emphasizing the rights of women and girls. She joined Miry’s List in the field in our Welcome Workshop, family visits, New Arrival Supper Club deliveries, and tutoring sessions to document what COVID-19 recovery looks like through the eyes of new Americans and the helpers. Some photographs were published in National Geographic’s visual reflection on the impact of the pandemic worldwide, Inside the Curve: Stories from the Pandemic, and Nat Geo in The Field on Instagram.

Home is wherever I’m with you: Miry spent an afternoon with the Abdulwahab family, new Americans from Syria, in their home in El Cajon, CA.

Miry and Ayman Issa are building a new stroller for a new arrival family outside their apartment complex in El Cajon, California.

DEDICATION

By Ahmed Abedy, Major Gifts Officer, Miry’s List

Coming to the United States with my family from Iraq was full of surprises. A new neighborhood and neighbors, new weather and language, a new house, and a new school for my kids. A completely new culture. Even the smell of our new country was unfamiliar. To prepare for these changes, I told myself, "expect the unexpected." We approached our acclimation to the United States as an allencompassing adventure of the senses: mind, body, and soul. But there was one part of this adventure I hadn't prepared myself for, not by a long shot.

People extended generous invitations to us, though we were essentially strangers from different cultures and backgrounds. At first, I was confused by these gestures. Don't parents tell their children to avoid strangers? Aren't people reluctant to interact with strangers or offer them help?

The American people welcomed us not only by their words but by their actions. Their expressions of love were tangible and impactful. At a time when we needed it most, my new American neighbors showed up for me. In so many ways, they showed us that we matter. They showed us that despite all the suffering and pain we experienced, human virtue is not extinct.

I'll share with you this personal example from our early days in the United States from my dear wife,

Raghad. She was pregnant, just a couple of months from her due date. She was very nervous, worried that no one would be here with her. This was her first experience delivering a baby to the world. I remember one night she asked me, who is here for me? She became more afraid as time passed and the due date came closer. In our country, she would have her sisters, mom, and many other people to support her. Then we started to receive gifts for a newborn baby. These items moved Raghad to a very different world. Her mindset changed. She said it was like a world of moms speaking to the baby growing in her belly. A loving conversation took place. She was safe again. She saw the world to be beautiful again. A baby bath arrived —his new little clothes. Soon I'd hear Raghad singing to him throughout our house. These moments took her out of intense anxiety and were the most needed comfort for a new mother in an unknown place.

And that is the source of true happiness—more than money, possessions, or a perfect day on the beach. The ultimate happiness comes from helping others.

Nothing summarizes it more poignantly than the Miry's List slogan, this two-word declaration in my native language of Arabic: Ana Huna. The words themselves are simple, but the meaning is expansive.

At a time when we needed it most, my new American neighbors showed up for me.

"Ana" means "I," "Huna" means "Here," "Ana Huna" means “I’m here.”

But what does it mean to be here? Why does this mean so much to many new-arrival families like mine?

When I first heard the words Ana Huna in the United States, I was comforted by the familiarity. I was immediately reminded of my mother's watchful eyes on my seven siblings and me, seemingly on us even when her back was turned. My mother's aura of protection and care guides me daily in my journey as a parent. Though we are halfway across the world and more than 40 years have passed, I still feel my mother's eye on me today. Ana Huna means more than "I'm here.”

It also means "I notice you," the way a parent looks after a child.

Ana Huna means I exist, and I matter. I am alive, and I can positively impact people around me.

Ana Huna means I arrived. To a friend's home for a visit, a cup of tea, as an honored guest to share a meal. We've arrived in a new country, a new chapter of life, and boldly into the unknown.

Ana Huna means I'm here for you. This a gentle reminder that we show up for our friends and neighbors no matter what.

Ana Huna is an invitation from one friend to another. Generous

Ahmed Abedy enjoys a strong cup of coffee during a volunteer day in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Shiouwen Hong

permission to relax, take a breath and let go of the stresses, if only for a moment. I felt this invitation when we arrived in the United States and enrolled in Miry's List; it was a huge relief for our family.

Today, I still sit at the Miry's List table of welcomers. Two years after our arrival to the U.S., I proudly joined the Miry's List "Dream Team" staff. I am now one of the helpers, working each day to pay forward the loving invitation we received to those who have come after us.

There wasn't a specific moment when I "switched" from being helped to being the helper. Instead, these experiences have been woven together, layered with a human connection. I simultaneously identify as both the helper and the helped. In every step toward helping, I heal a part of myself. When I show up for someone, I show up for myself.

This is the gorgeous spirit of Ana Huna

I'm here for you, and I'm here for me. We are here, the same, but different.

Amid endless heartache and justifiable stress, Miry's List is a source of kindness and love and a vehicle to deliver us back to ourselves. The "hive" of incredible people who share their love and compassion to help others has a contagious energy. It's why over 200,000 people have jumped in to be part of this "hive of helpers" in just these first six years since the organization's founding. My experience is a story of love and kindness that I received and perpetuate through my actions.

This experience has expanded Ana Huna's meaning: it is an active statement of kindness and humanity.

I will never forget this feeling. Every time I hear these words, I am reminded of the beauty within them.

Let's say it together with passion. Let's say it until it reaches every corner of our country, big cities, and small towns. Let it echo like thunder and fall softly like a summer rain when we need it most. ANA HUNA.

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York islands

From the Redwood Forest to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me

Written with help from Ameer Abedy, for English grammar and rephrasing.

Amid endless heartache and justifiable stress, Miry's List is a source of kindness and love and a vehicle to deliver us back to ourselves. u

Ahmed Abedy in the Redwood Forest. Photo by his daughter Rahaf

A LETTER FROM MIRY

Dear friends and Neighbors,

Every family is entitled to safety, comfort, and human connection.

In 2021, Miry's List supported 252 new arrival resetting families through our 12-month program. The majority of these families came to the United States from Afghanistan. They're made up of 1,207 human beings, over half of whom are babies and children. They are living in 51 U.S. cities across ten states nationally.

Moms, dads, children, babies, grandparents, and those who served in the U.S. military all have hopes and dreams, pursuing safety, education, and a bright future. They are new Americans. Future voters and community leaders. Our newest neighbors.

Resettling families have sacrificed so much to be here, and the community support system provided by Miry's List (AKA our Hive…more on that later) gives newcomers practical and needed help as they face the incredible challenge of starting over in a new country. Why is this important?

Because migration can be a traumatic experience.

The process lacks informed consent and requires families to leave behind nearly everything they own, all that's familiar to them and their community support system of friends and family. It takes a whole lot to uproot your life and move to a new part of the world. There is courage and bravery in migration. There is resilience and strength in replanting, rebuilding, and resettling. I see these qualities every day in the people I meet in my role at Miry's List.

And yet, just a small fraction of the families in need of a safe haven from violence and persecution can receive government permission to resettle in the United States. The global refugee crisis is a magnitude that can be impossible to comprehend. How could we help impact a problem affecting over 89 million people worldwide?

While I write this letter, young women and girls in Afghanistan cannot pursue their dreams, attend school after 7th grade, work to support their families or even leave the house safely. There is a level of grief that will take more than a lifetime to process. Because women are strong, persistent, and brilliant, there continue to be ways for girls to attend school secretly, from home, and even by radio in Afghanistan. Imagine the risks they take each day to commit to their education. This disheartening reality impacts the lives and futures of not just women and girls but their entire communities.

If you feel rage, that means you're human. But let's not stop at rage. Let's keep going and process this rage together.

I want you to think about any time you’ve ever come to a new place. Think about where you live right now. Ask yourself: Do I depend on my neighbors? What role do my neighbors play in my day-to-day life? Think about someone who made you feel welcome when you were new somewhere. Let that memory give you a warm hug, a sense of peace, and understanding. This is where we gather motivation to pay it forward to someone else.

To take the rage we feel and put it into action to improve someone else’s experience.

When we jump in to help, we can counteract the effects of a traumatizing migration experience. Transformative change, including measurable, positive outcomes like upward social and economic mobility for new arrival families, comes when we work collaboratively from the bottom up. Our families are faced with impossible choices every day, and we know from our deep experience the support they need to thrive.

We are the neighbors, and we aren’t going anywhere.

Founder Miry Whitehill at a Miry’s List playdate in Glendale, California

Amiry Family, new Americans from Afghanistan, pictured outside their new home in Northern California. Photo by Kevin Fiscus

A Warm Welcome Makes All The Difference

Photos by Kevin Fiscus Photography, courtesy of Participant Media

Over 89 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes due to violence or persecution, 26.6 million of whom have been designated by UNHCR as refugees unable to return home. 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 United States. Since 2016, we’ve supported thousands of refugees who have come through the Federal Refugee Resettlement program from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran.

The Khaliqyar Family, new Americans from Afghanistan

Nadira Khaliqyar displays a decorative plate she brought from Afghanistan in her new home in Sacramento, California.

Miry’s List: A Movement of Neighbors & Friends

The Inspiring Human Beings We Support

Half of the beneficiaries of our program are babies and children.

Demand For Our Programming is Greater Than Ever

Miry's List has continued to grow the number of families we support since our founding in 2016. 90% of our new families are referred by word of mouth. Families are active in our program for 12 months.

Miry’s List Goals

Grow capacity: We have supported hundreds of families and are determined to support thousands more in the future.

Expand the model: We know our model is scalable, and our goal is to support newcomers in any community across the United States.

Secure the future: We want to sustain our programming into the future in a healthy way that supports our families and prevents burnout of our incredible staff and volunteers.

Programming

A customized 12-month experience for each and every family.

Our approach is divided into three chronological pillars:

SURVIVE, HIVE, and THRIVE

Our Approach

Each pillar is infused with specific points of direct human connection, which is what it’s all about.

The Pillars of Our Program

SURVIVE: first 30 days

Respond to Urgent Needs: Take the time to learn about each family's most pressing needs, focusing on safety, function, rest, and comfort.

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CHILDREN AGE 3 to 17

HIVE: months 2-10

Expand the support network: Surround a family with the things, people, and programs needed to thrive in a new country. Friends and helpers participate in direct, community-based support

THRIVE: months 11-12 & beyond

Grow Roots: A sense of belonging is established. Focus on service, community building, personal development, and continuing a virtuous cycle of giving.

BABIES AGE 0-2

Nadira and Ramin Khaliqyar lovingly gaze at their 2 year old son jumping for joy at their home in Sacramento, California.

PROGRAMS

WELCOME WORKSHOP

Miry's List provides essential supplies to new families upon enrollment in our program and to community-based organizations supporting refugees in the United States.

with opportunities for direct service and continual engagement. This community infrastructure has proven essential, allowing Miry’s List to respond swiftly in a crisis with supplies, social connections, and learning opportunities. In 2021, hundreds of volunteers, including Youtuber Lilly Singh and friends, jumped in to help in person at our Los Angeles Welcome Workshop to pack customized packages for new arrival families of toiletries, clothing, school supplies, books, cleaning supplies, and more.

Miry’s List is an organization rooted in community building. Our volunteer-led programs create opportunities for cultural exchange, learning, and new friendships between new arrival families and their American neighbors. We offer volunteers and families alike u

Lilly Singh smiles ear to ear with arms full of gifts for a Miry’s List family Welcome Kit at our Los Angeles Welcome Workshop.

Photo by Injinash Unshin

PROGRAMS

RAPID RESPONSE

Miry's List fills the gaps because government resettlement agencies provide limited assistance that does not always meet the families' needs and comfort.

to families in the Survive pillar. We provide urgently needed items that resettling refugee families need urgently to make home safe, functional, and comfortable.

In 2021, Rapid Response supported 1,720 people with 5,308 urgently needed essentials like beds, furniture, and kitchen supplies.

Rapid Response fills a major need for new arrival families, particularly those that have had to flee their homes quickly and directly to the US. In many cases, government support is lacking and can't be coordinated quickly, so new arrival families are stuck in hotels or empty apartments, often sleeping on the floor for months.

Rapid Response by Miry's List quickly addresses this resource gap, so families can be comfortable and safe in their new homes.

Rapid Response by Miry's List is a program offered u

A Welcome Kit prepared for a new Miry’s List family, complete with a handwritten letter from a member of The Hive.

PROGRAMS

WISHLISTS

by Miry’s List

With support from Miry’s List staff and volunteers, families create custom-curated wishlists of the supplies they need to turn their house into a home and to feel safe and supported.

for resettling refugees in the country. Wishlists live on our website, and anyone with access to Target can send a newly resettling family a gift to welcome them to America.

Since 2016, over $1,000,000 of housewarming gifts have been sent through our online Wishlists program. Through our online platform and deep knowledge of impactful crowdsourcing techniques, Miry’s List mobilizes communities on a broad scale in support of their refugee neighbors. If Uber can connect someone who needs a ride with a driver, and Airbnb can connect a traveler with a spare room, why not connect resettling families with their American neighbors who want to help? This approach makes supporting refugees simple, accessible, and scalable. Wishlists by Miry’s List creates a highly accessible and remote volunteer opportunity for anyone

Miry’s List operates the largest wishlist platform interested in supporting resettling refugees. New parents who have limited free time and are homebound, people with diverse abilities, youth and elderly alike, are capable of volunteering with Miry’s List by becoming a listmaker or wishlist ambassador. We have received numerous anecdotes from volunteers with disabilities and others about the sense of connection and agency they get from volunteering as listmakers

The Salehi family, new Americans from Afghanistan, pictured in their home in Sacramento, California.

Photo by Kevin Fiscus Photgraphy, courtesy of Participant Media

PROGRAMS

SANAH

by Miry’s List

A virtual Social-Emotional Learning program for resettling individuals and trained peer volunteers to support social interaction and community building for new arrial families.

SANAH stands for “Supporting American Newcomers at Home.” A virtual Social-Emotional Learning program for resettling individuals and trained peer volunteers to support social interaction and community building for new arrival families.

SANAH provides a mechanism for social engagement between newcomers and their new American neighbors. The friendships built help to ground resettling individuals and even have the capacity to counteract some of the isolating effects of migration.

To address the isolation and social detachment that our families are experiencing, Miry’s List launched SANAH in 2021 to provide families with a virtual ESL class from home and a laptop, matching each participant with a trained volunteer English tutor. Participants of SANAH are parents with multiple young children, some of whom have since used these provided devices to engage in local community college courses. SANAH provides resettling individuals with opportunities to build confidence through connections with a new American friend on a weekly basis.

SANAH is named for a member of our Miry’s List community who passed away at the young age of 4 from a rare form of cancer. She was the light of the lives of everyone who ever met her, especially her parents and little brother, Yosef. Sanah is the Arabic word for shine, brightness, or radiance, and our Sanaa shined brightly in her short four years.

Miry’s List dedicates this program to Sanaa and her family. We hope this will be a great and memorable experience for our volunteers and new arrivals. u

New Angelenos from Afghanistan, Musawir, Mina, and Mudasir, in session with their SANAH English tutor. SANAH Summer for Students engaged 25 resettling students in LA with 25 volunteer high school tutors for eight weeks of English learning and cultural exchange in partnership with the California Community Foundation. Photo by Anna Boyiazis

PROGRAMS

NEW ARRIVAL SUPPER CLUB

Our acclaimed culinary social impact experience provides guests with the opportunity to bond with and learn from resettling neighbors over the universal language of food.

New Arrival Supper Club gives our families the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and culture, earn money, and meet their new neighbors. New Arrival Supper Club is an economic empowerment program where resettling chefs earn income and develop professional and marketable skills while nurturing their new communities.

Since our first backyard dinner party in 2017, New Arrival Supper Club has bridged resettling residents of Los Angeles with their new neighbors through the universal language of food. Between 2020-2021, Miry’s List paid over $150,000 in wages to resettling chefs in LA through

New Arrival Supper Club provided 550 meals to residents of Los Angeles at our community dinners. During the height of COVID-19, New Arrival Supper Club donated over 400 meals to frontline healthcare workers at COVID testing centers and the UCLA Medical Center ICU.

People need to be of service, particularly to marginalized populations. The experience of migration can be disheartening and traumatic. Refugees can lose their sense of individuality, be limited by societal stigmas and discrimination towards immigrants, and feel lost, isolated, and lonely.

New Arrival Supper Club directly counteracts hardships experienced by resettling families through direct mutual aid in two key areas:

• Creating space for resettling refugees in Los Angeles to participate and invest in the well-being of their new neighbors

• Creating a bridge for the Los Angeles community to meet people who have experienced resettlement as refugees and to get to know another culture through food

Though we may not share a spoken language, we have a shared human experience. We make connections through delicious meals that nourish the body and the soul.

A LASTING IMPACT:

Super Bowl LVI Legacy Program Reminds Us Champions Live Here

In 2021, Miry’s List was selected for the Super Bowl LVI Legacy Program for our work on ensuring resettling refugee families in Los Angeles have the resources needed to start their new lives. Miry’s List was chosen for this special program because of our lasting impact in Los Angeles County since 2016. The program highlighted our crowdsourcing approach and programs connecting new arrival families to important information and support to ease their transition into a new environment. This support came at a muchneeded time for our families, and we are so grateful to be a part of this program.

Learn more at bit.ly/ChampionsLiveHere

Photo courtesy of LA Sports & Entertainment Commission

Super Bowl LVI's "Champions Live Here" program shines a spotlight on 56 Los Angeles nonprofits helping uplift communities across the region. Photo courtesy of LA Super Bowl Host Committee

Miry’s List in the house at SoFi Stadium, located in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California. Photo by Miry Whitehill

We Are The Neighbors. We Aren’t Going Anywhere

Designed by Carrie Hansen Materials provided by Center for the Arts Eagle Rock Photos by Christina Gandolfo

Volunteers are essential to mission delivery for Miry's List. Each year, we acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our volunteers and share an experience that connects us as a community and provides a human connection.

Community intervention at the time of arrival for families makes a transformative difference, and the ripple effect will be felt for generations to come.

Each tile is a physical, one-of-a-kind reminder of a unique, important, and heartfelt contribution made to Miry's List. Each tile represents a special piece of the puzzle that is solved when we each step in to help how we can. See the list of all 63 recipients here: miryslist.org/hive

HOW TO GIVE: TOGETHER WE ARE AMAZING

We depend on contributions from our generous community of donors to keep Miry’s List growing so we can help more families. Select a giving plan that works for you:

• A donation of $1000 will fund programming to support one new family for the entire year.

• A monthly donation of $83 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.

Heroes Feeding Heroes: New Arrival Supper Club director Christy Anderson, curbside at UCLA Medical Center, delivering freshly prepared Syrian dinner for the COVID-19 ICU workers. She'll return 4 hours later with dinner for the night shift crew.

Photo by Anna Boyiazis

In 2021, Miry’s List donated over meals to frontline healthcare workers at the UCLA Medical Center COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.

Food is a family history: These classic Afghan chutney recipes were handed down through generations of Aqila’s family, the first branch of their family to plant roots in the United States. Photo by Miry Whitehill

FOOD

AQILA ASHGARY’S

AFGHAN CHUTNEY

This popular staple is an excellent addition to just about anything. Add yogurt to it and turn it into a creamy dipping sauce. Depending on the peppers used, you can make it as spicy or as mild as you like.

INGREDIENTS

Green Chutney

Makes 8 ounces

4 cloves of garlic

1 tblsp salt

1 tblsp black pepper

1 handful fresh coriander

1 avocado

1 fresh green pepper, jalape o works well cup white vinegar cup water

Red Chutney

Makes 8 ounces

4 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp salt

1 tblsp black pepper

2 large red chili peppers, we suggest

Basque Fryer or Mirasol Chili cup white vinegar cup water

DIRECTIONS

To a food processor, add garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend until minced, but be careful not to purée completely. Add fresh coriander, avocado, green pepper, and water. Blend again.

Finally, add the vinegar, water, and pulse 2-3 times, or simply stir the vinegar in with a spoon.

To a food processor, add garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend until minced, but be careful not to purée completely. Add red peppers, and water. Blend again.

Finally, add the vinegar, water, and pulse 2-3 times, or simply stir the vinegar in with a spoon.

Dream Team Reunion: Following more than a year of Safer-at-Home measures, newly vaccinated Miry’s List front liners, Miry, Rafid, and Christy, embrace for a long-awaited hug. Photo by Anna Boyiazis