Dear Friends: As the only dedicated GF bakery in the Boston Metro area, we get many many requests for donations at the bakery. So years ago we came up with a donation strategy that focused on three main areas of request: Homelessness, Refugees and Animals. For 2023 we are focusing on helping a refugee family with a child with Cerebral Palsy immigrate to the USA. This family is a registered refugee family with UNHCR.
Welcome Corps
President Biden recently passed a law establishing The Welcome Corps, which authorizes US Citizens to sponsor refugee families to come to the USA. A similar program has been in existence in Canada for several years now, with positive results. Under this program we want to sponsor the Al-Smadi family to come to the USA. https://sponsoral-smadifamily.squarespace.com
I’ve been involved in refugee issues since 2015 and have worked at, and visited, several refugee camps in Europe. After several successful initiatives in Europe, Stefanie Ziervogl, a colleague from Austria, and I decided we wanted to help the poorest of refugees – the vast majority who lacked the financial resources to get to Europe, and who traveled instead to Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to escape war.
We’ve Been Helping the Al-Smadi Family since 2017
In these countries, we gave micro-financing to refugee families who had trade experience, but no means to engage in their trade in their host country. It was in this context that we began working with the Al-Smadi family. We gave them modest funds to buy welding equipment so that Gather, the father, could work in the construction industry and get better pay. And helped with housing expenses for their very small, dilapidated housing. Gather was also supporting his younger sister and two female cousins (now age 24 and 26), one of whom has kidney disease. The entire family had previously 
lived in the Zaatari Camp, in Jordan. So any house was better than that.
Jawad has Cerebral Palsy
Jawal , their son, was born in 2017 with cerebral palsy. In 2019, Stefani connected the family with a local aid group in Jordan that helped with medical expenses. But in early 2020, the aid group folded from lack of funds. So we took over paying the therapy for Jawal. In 2020 he couldn’t sit, lift his head, speak or hardly move, and now he can do all of these things, so the therapy, though very basic (see video on https://sponsoral-smadifamily.squarespace.com ), helped immensely. But now, the clinic is unable to do more to help the child significantly progress. Nor can Jawal go to school or get any remedial help in Jordan.
This family has been registered with UNHCR since 2013 as a refugee family that qualifies for resettlement. But there are millions of refugees and not enough slots for all to be resettled by UNHCR.
Requirements to Sponsor this Family to Come to US
To sponsor this family of five (Mother, Father, 3 children under age 8) we need three (3) people to agree to sponsor. We must also raise $2375 per person, or $11,875 for the family. We are required to submit a Welcome Plan detailing how we will help the family get settled. These requirements are based on what the USA currently pays for resettling refugees.
We need your help. First we need two other sponsors. Stefanie can’t sponsor as she isn’t a US citizen. Second we need donations, and help fundraising. Third we need people (or sponsors) to agree to help with items on the Welcome Plan. https://sponsoral-smadifamily.squarespace.com
I have built a website with all the required information. You can sign up to sponsor or sign up to help with a specific action item there. You can also donate thru this site. With each passing day that Jawal doesn’t have continued therapy, he loses ground with his cerebral palsy. So time is of the essence. Please consider helping with the resettlement activities, donating, or raising funds.
On a Side Note
On a side note, Gather and Ragdha wanted us to include his two young cousins (one with kidney disease) 
in the application process. But cousins aren’t considered immediate family under US Immigration law, and we feared including them would complicate the process. So we are looking for someone else to sponsor these two young women. We will help with the process. And I can be one of the 3 sponsors, if necessary. The total amount that must be raised for these two young women is $4750. If you find it in your heart to file a similar application for them, please reach out and let me know. We would really prefer this family not be separated, and the two women are too young (and one too sick!) to be on their own in this area of Jordan without family.
