Some Afghan families in our community are in limbo, adversely affected by a virtual halt in green card processing, a slowdown in work permits renewals, and a loss of benefits—including food stamps needed to buy essential food items. First Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Food Pantry are stepping up to help these families experiencing hunger by providing targeted assistance, namely giving food items that they use to prepare their Afghan meals or buying milk and fresh produce.
During the first week of March, we packed special food boxes for two Afghan families being helped by another sponsor. These boxes included rice, flour, vegetable oil, dried pinto beans, and fruit juice. We spent $35 to buy 3 gallons of milk, 2 dozen eggs, and a lot of fruits and vegetables as well as First Lutheran gift cards to buy 40 pounds of rice, 20 pounds of flour (used to make bread), 10 pounds of carrots, and much more.
During the second week of March, a First Lutheran team packed special boxes for 16 more families being supported by an Afghan woman who has lived in our community for decades and has opened her heart (and wallet) to help these newer arrivals. First Lutheran also will help buy dairy products and produce.
The Afghan families can get one box of food each month at the Lutheran Food Pantry, but this food does not last long and unfortunately includes canned items like tuna, chicken, and ravioli that they cannot eat because they are not “halal.” So our efforts to provide special boxes, milk, fruits, and vegetables will fill a real need to reduce these families’ hunger and food insecurity.
What can you do to help?
1) Provide a monetary donation to First Lutheran designated for Afghan Refugees Food Aid, which we will use to buy perishable food items (milk, eggs, fruits, and vegetables). (Note: Monetary donations also give us greater flexibility to make sure individual family needs can be met.)
2) Buy food items that can be packed in special boxes and delivered to Afghan families on a regular basis as they wait for the situation to improve, including a resumption of food stamps.
Needed food items includes:
Grains/legumes
- long grain rice
- long grain basmati rice, brand “Mihan” is available at Sam’s Club (large bags)
- pasta
- dried kidney beans
- dried pinto beans
- dried garbanzo beans
- dried green, red, or yellow lentils
Baking/Cooking
- white flour (large bags)
- sugar
- large containers of cooking oil
- canned tomatoes
- canned tomato sauce or pasta sauce
3) Call or email your US Senator or US Representative to ask that they press USCIS to speed up processing of green card applications and work permits so that Afghan immigrants—who are legally here in the US—can continue to work and receive benefits, including food stamps.
