Megan Martin

Social Policy
Letter to the Editor
April 15, 2013

Dear Editor,

I am writing to raise awareness of the war currently effecting millions of people in Syria.
According to the UN refugee agency as of March 26, about 3.6 million people have been
displaced within Syria, in addition to more than 1.1 million fleeing to neighboring countries
seeking safety. Many children have lost their homes and witnessed violence and destruction.
These families continue to need food provisions, household supplies, education, and counseling
to help them cope with their circumstances.
This is an important issue because even though these people are fleeing their country
seeking shelter, the places the countries they find it are now over populated with the refugees and
unable to provide adequate assistance to everyone--including their own citizens.
An agency that is providing aid to these refugees is World Vision. They are assisting
more than 60,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, as well as 29,000 people in Jordan. This
assistance includes provisions of food vouchers, hygiene kits, and projects to improve clean
water and sanitation access for everyone. They also provide child friendly places where the
children refugees can recover from their emotional scars. This assistance from World Vision has
made a tremendous impact on the refugees they have been able to reach, however there are still
thousands more in other regions that have not yet been reached by this aid.
What we here in the United States can do about this crisis happening in Syria is be
supportive of those agencies who are assisting the refugees fleeing their home lands due to the
violence taking place. Ways to support these families in crisis is by donating to
www.worldvision.org.

Megan Martin
1450 Alta Vista
Dubuque, IA
PO Box 984

Michelle-
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