<article class="content"> <p>In 2016, Miry Whitehill, a stay-at-home mom from Los Angeles, met a local refugee family from Syria struggling to set up their new lives without basic child and household items. Miry decided to post a request on Facebook for donations to help the family. To her surprise, neighbors and friends immediately contributed. As the donations continued to come in, Miry worked to reach other refugee families in need. Later that year, Miry officially created <a href="https://miryslist.org/">Miry’s List</a> to assist even more families in her community. Miry had realized that even from her home in California, she could make a difference for refugee families escaping conflict and violence from countries around the world.</p> <p>Since 2016, the organization has gone on to help almost 300 refugee families to thrive in their new Los Angeles homes. Miry’s List continues to use crowdfunding and social media to provide refugee families with donated household goods. In addition, they successfully launched a New Arrival Supper Club, allowing refugees to share their traditional cuisine with their new neighbors and earn some money at the same time. Other Miry’s List programs include a temporary housing match and travel loan program.</p> <h2>Q&amp;A</h2> <p><strong>Your name:</strong> <br>Miry Whitehill</p> <p><strong>Name of Your organization:</strong> <br><a href="https://miryslist.org/">Miry’s List</a></p> <p><strong>Location of Your organization:</strong> <br>Los Angeles, California</p> <p><strong>What communities does your organization serve?</strong> <br>Miry’s List serves refugee families in 51 cities in 13 states nationally. Most of our families are in California, and most derive from middle eastern countries: Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.</p> <p><strong>What are you most excited for in 2020?</strong> <br>We’re on track to help more than 100 additional families in 2020! This is the most exciting. Also, I’m excited about growing the virtual Miry’s List experience and expanding our capacity to help families in more cities.</p> <p><strong>How has your organization benefited from the Hello Neighbor Network?</strong> <br>The regular communication, idea sharing, networking, sharing of resources… I have made amazing friends and I feel deeply supported and grateful.</p> </article>