A World Away and Right Next Door

Local connections can bring things that are worlds away as close as the next street over. On Monday, February 6, Ellicott City restaurant Syriana posted this photograph and the accompanying words.

Waking up for "rough" Mondays in winter can be harsh, but life is good in giving us perspectives.

Today, millions in Syria and Turkey woke up 5:24am, local time, to a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake with a series of powerful aftershocks rendering 1,800 dead, and hundreds of thousands homeless in a brutal winter. This catastrophe mostly affected the most vulnerable of Syrians, already displaced to these areas after a brutal 12-year conflict.

Our nonprofit, Syriana, is working to identify partner organizations working in the affected areas to support; here is an opportunity for anyone who would like to donate towards this fund Syriana

Let's be thankful for all the blessings we have, enjoy our days, and get out there and try to make a good difference wherever we can. and not forgot people in agony around the world.

Suddenly we saw that the humanitarian crisis that had seemed so far away was in the hearts of people in our community.

I’ve written about Syriana before, after I read a BBC piece by Eliot Stein entitled, “Is this the new Main Street, USA?” It leads off with this sentence:

After a series of deadly floods ripped through a small US town, newly arrived Syrian immigrants banded together to help rebuild it.

Now Syriana is asking for our help to help the earthquake victims in their home country. On February 10th they announced they would be donating all of their profits until the end of February to the restaurant’s nonprofit organization for earthquake relief aid in Syria.

In Columbia, Nazar Produce Market has been a central point for collecting earthquake relief funds and materials for Turkey.

Turkish market lends helping hand in light of earthquake, Jack Watson, WMAR-2 ABC Baltimore

The Turkish community in Maryland is trying to lend a helping hand to those suffering in Turkey - collecting donated blankets, sleeping bags, winter clothing, medicine and money.

For Marylanders with ties to Turkey, it's striking a heavy chord.

You can go to their page on Facebook to learn more about how you can help.

Our neighbors are bringing this natural disaster so much nearer and asking us to make their anguish our anguish. They are asking us to give of ourselves as they are giving. The personal connection brings it that much more into focus.

If you would like to help:

Syriana is located in Old Ellicott City:

8180 Main Street, Ellicott City, MD 21045

Nazar is in Columbia:

6955 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia, MD 21045

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Columbia Chance Connection

Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!” We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog