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Social Action
- 2021 MLK Power Pack Program
- ALIVE! Update
- Bikkur Cholim "Visiting the Sick"
- 5780 Special Focus
- 5779 Special Focus: Refugees and Immigrants
- 5778 Special Focus - Safe Spaces
- 5777 Special Focus: Racial Injustice
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Social Action Committee
Social Action Committee
Racism and Police Brutality
Carpenter's Shelter News
Agudas Achim Congregation
Alfred Street Baptist Church
Christ Church
Christ the King
Commonwealth Baptist Church
Good Shepherd Lutheran
Grace Community Church
Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill
St. Paul Christian Center
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Washington Street United Methodist Church
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Shelter Redevelopment News
The new shelter is much more than just a building, it is a safe, welcoming refuge for all. Shelter staff are working with vendors to make sure the furniture, technology and security are in sync with one another. They are striving to make residents’ transition from homeless to housed as productive and positive as possible.
Thu, March 4 2021
20 Adar 5781
National Refugee Shabbat
Saturday, March 6 | 9:30 AM
Agudas Achim is joining HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) and hundreds of other congregations to celebrate National Refugee Shabbat on March 5-6. This year, we have the special privilege of hearing from our congregant Hayvi Bouzo, who is a Syrian-born American broadcast journalist, Middle East and foreign policy expert and commentator.
Hayvi appeared in leading TV shows in both English and Arabic. She is also known for hosting The Axis a leading political TV show that focused on the U.S. policy towards the Middle-East, and broadcasted in over 60 countries. Recently, Hayvi started her own podcast titled The Untold with Hayvi Bouzo where she interviews experts, journalists and officials to talk about political, national and global affairs. On Saturday morning, she will share personal reflections on her interactions as a journalist and her family's experience in Aleppo.
We hope that hearing these personal stories will inspire you to take action in support of refugees and asylum seekers. The Social Action Committee would like to bring particular focus on opportunities to donate airline miles to help migrants arrive in the United States and support a revival of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
• The Miles4Migrants campaign enables you to pledge airline miles to help fulfill a future case. HIAS's nonprofit partners identify refugees, asylees, asylum-seekers, and their immediate family members, who have legal approval to travel but cannot afford airfare, and then Miles4Migrants helps fly them to their new homes!
• Due to drastic reductions in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in recent years, the number of refugees resettled by HIAS fell from more than 4,200 in 2016, to just 576 in 2020. President Biden has pledged to raise the refugee admissions cap to 125,000 per year, a level not seen in more than two decades. Visit HIAS's website and consider making your views on this pledge known to your Members of Congress.
Social Action Soiree
Monday, March 22 | 8 PM
The next meeting will cover the book Sitting Pretty, by Rebekah Taussing. It is an easy-to- read account of living with disabilities. The book is available from booksellers and in the public libraries.
For April we will read If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. Date TBD.
Please register to receive the zoom for the March meeting.
All are welcome to a monthly Social Action Committee initiative wherein participants will read books, watch films and visit museum exhibitions (online and in person when permitted) of current interest related to social action, racial justice and other relevant issues consistent with the mission of the Social Action Committee. For information please contact Deborah Rosen.
Read ahead:
The books we've read:
Voices for Change
Casa Chirilagua Urgent Needs
Just to the north of shul, Arlandria is the home of many immigrants and refugees from Central America and has been hit particularly hard by the virus. Across Alexandria, the Latinx population has the highest number of infections, with nearly a quarter of the city's total concentrated in the 22305 zip code. Many of the residents of this neighborhood are also lower income, leaving them with smaller safety nets to cope with the economic consequences of the stay-at-home order.
Because of the conditions, demand for Casa Chirilagua’s services has become enormous. Guided by the commandment to love our neighbors, we maintain a responsibility to step up and help others. Please donate directly to CASA.
Requested items:
Clorox Bleach
Laundry Detergent
Cleanser
Household cleaner/disinfectant
Dish Soap
Maseca/ Corn Flour
Rice
Pasta
Dry beans
Canned Goods
Donate directly to Casa Chirilagua.
SAC Update
updated May 6, 2020
Financial Donations Needed for Food and Housing
ALIVE! needs cash donations to purchase food by the pallet-load for the hungry in out midst. Please consider a financial donation to ALIVE!.
Other organizations that have been supported by our community and continue to have great need include:
- Capital Area Food Bank
- Arlington Food Assistance Center
- Carpenter's Shelter
- United Community (serving a range of needs along the Route 1 corridor)
- Pathways to Housing DC (serving the homeless on the streets of DC)
Donations of food are not being accepted at this time. Some of these organizations may list on their websites ways that healthy individuals can safely volunteer.
Care for Community Volunteers Needed in Alexandria
Volunteer Alexandria is looking for healthy adults and teens who can help with various food distribution programs, particularly for children.
Virginia Hospital Center Donations Needed
VHC has requested unopened packages of gloves, goggles, hand sanitizer, face shields, masks, and bleach/bleach wipes. They cannot accept homemade masks. Please call 703-717-4653 or email to coordinate donations via their safe and approved acceptance process.
Social Action Ongoing Activities
For a list of ongoing projects and partners, click here.