Activities include family discussions on welcoming newcomers, writing welcome letters, family portrait sessions and art workshops
The Annenberg Community Beach House is set to host a “Families Welcome” event in partnership with regional nonprofit Miry’s List. This free event aims to foster connections and extend a warm welcome to refugee families newly settled in the LA County region or any newcomers to the community.
Locals looking to spread a little neighborly love need look no further than Santa Monica's Annenberg Community Beach House. Come April 14, the beachfront spot is playing host to "Families Welcome," a free public event organized to extend a warm embrace to refugee families and fresh faces in Los Angeles County. The shindig, chalk-full of all-ages activities, aims to educate participants on how to best welcome those new to our sprawling metropolis.
Many of us are in the habit of making end-of-year donations as part of our holiday season of giving. It’s an opportunity to see what we’ve managed to squirrel away during the year and decide what we’re comfortable giving. That comfort level is different for everyone. What I hope isn’t so different is a desire to choose wisely, so that deserving organizations that make an impact get needed support. This year I’ve chosen a couple of repeats that I’ve been shouting out for several years because they have proven that they do the work of their respective missions really well.
In 2016, Miry Whitehill learned about a Syrian family in her Eagle Rock neighborhood who, since they had escaped the war and landed in the US three months prior, had been living in a sparsely furnished apartment with almost none of the basic necessities to set up a home—no towels, cleaning supplies or even diapers for their baby.
What began as a call out to Miry’s friend network to meet this family’s needs quickly ramped up to Miry’s List, which crowdsources support for refugee families resettling in the US.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will also deliver keynote remarks welcoming 30 new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony hosted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. She will meet with staff and beneficiaries of Miry’s List, a nonprofit organization that helps welcome and resettle refugees arriving in the United States from countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Ukraine.
The youth mental health crisis has escalated into a nationwide epidemic, but a new research survey reveals its alarmingly disproportionate toll on queer youth. The study was published during Pride by Born This Way Foundation – a not-for-profit organization co-founded by Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta) and her mother Cynthia Germanotta – in collaboration with Benenson Strategy Group – a New York-based strategic research consultancy.
Organizations throughout the city and county of Los Angeles have plenty of experience aiding displaced or newly arrived refugees and immigrants. Often a family’s first point of contact and constant support system, these groups provide such services as legal aid, vocational training, financial aid and housing assistance.
These organizations are always looking for help from the public to continue providing services. Here is a list of Los Angeles and California-based organizations that need donations and volunteers.
This week, it’s a true honor to welcome the founder and executive director of Miry’s List, Miry Whitehill, to Mothering Heights. She’s Miry, from the List! Miry’s List is a nonprofit organization made up of neighbors and friends dedicated to welcoming new arrival refugee families into our community through inspired crowdsourcing solutions. And Miry is an unendingly inspiring leader and creator and friend.
Miry and Leonora discuss the origins of Miry’s List, how to find joy when your job requires engagement with tough stories, how food connects us, and how soon Miry expects to finally be mad at Leonora (pretty soon, actually).
Since 1980, the U.S. has welcomed over 3.1 Million refugees displaced by war and violence. Over the past six years, Miry’s List has been at the center of it all. LX News introduces us to the team helping refugees resettle across the country, including a father and son who sacrificed so much to make it to America.
Miry’s List has teamed up with renowned Chef Ori Menashe, chef at three of LA’s hottest restaurants, to create a special Holiday Spice Kit featuring a one-of-a-kind spice blend and three more signature spice varieties. All proceeds from the Spice Kit will support new arrival refugee families in 24 states across the U.S.
It all started with a Jumparoo.
Earlier this year, Miry Whitehill met a family of Afghan refugees who had just fled their homes following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In a world where so much is happening, it can be challenging to figure out how we talk to our kids about it. To learn more about how parents, guardians, and educators can start conversations with children about what is going on in the world around them in a gentle, loving, and affirming way, Born This Way Foundation’s Executive Director Maya Enista-Smith talked to community leaders Miry Whitehill and Jennifer Jackson.
Miry’s List, a nonprofit based in Eagle Rock, aims to bring comfort and safety to newly arrived refugee families by providing them with community support and supplies while they settle into the U.S. Founder and executive director Miry Whitehill said she began working with refugees in 2016, after a friend introduced her to a Syrian family who came to the U.S. three weeks prior.
When it comes to talking to kids about difficult topics from the news, parents’ first instincts are often to protect their little ones from complicated concepts like refugee resettlement. But children are much more emotionally intelligent than we realize—and giving them age-appropriate information can lead to a chance for them to activate their empathy in new and important ways.
Children’s picture book Our World Is a Family: Our Community Can Change the World (Sourcebooks Explore), written by Miry Whitehill and Jennifer Jackson and illustrated by Nomar Perez, tackles a timely subject: refugees. The book, published March 8, explores why people become refugees and how children can help refugees newly arrived in their communities.
