Give up a day's income for Syrian refugees - World Vision challenge
World Vision, in partnership with One Day's Wages, is launching a novel campaign to provide relief to displaced families in Iraq and Syria.
World Vision said the team will start a weeklong campaign starting January 26 encouraging all Americans to donate a day's worth of their income and One Day's Wages will match every dollar donated up to $50,000.
All donations will be used to fund the ongoing relief for Syrian refugees by providing proper nutrition, shelter, and protection against freezing weather. There is also a need to provide proper healthcare to treat and prevent infectious diseases, World Vision reports.
One Day's Wages have started their own relief programmes, but because of the increasing refugee crisis and worsening of Iraq's condition due to the insurgency of the Islamic State terrorist group, they have expanded their efforts by partnering with other groups like World Vision.
Both organisations have expressed alarm over what they have considered the worst humanitarian crises in modern history and see this campaign as one small way for Americans to respond to the huge needs of these families.
The situation for the refugees has become even more difficult as a result of the bad winter weather.
"More than 11 Million Syrian people have fled their homes. Some 3.8 million have had to flee the country - and 2 million of these are children. These refugees have very little - barely what they need to survive - and the winter storms they've recently endured only threaten them further," says Lawren Sinnema with World Vision's emergency response team.
"One day's wage is less than half a percent of our annual income, and the needs in Syria are devastating. We're eager to see the response of caring Americans who are willing to give up a small portion of what they have for those who have so little," said Philip Keeton, operations director at One Day's Wages.