Almost daily, we receive emails from Americans across the country who have discovered the plight of Iraqis who are refugees as a consequence of helping the United States. These Americans tell us that this issue is one of the first in the war that they understand clearly enough to want to help. From Seattle to Tulsa to Miami, these inspiring Americans are signing up on Netroots, which is a groundbreaking grassroots effort that allows people to take ownership on this issue. Dozens of chapters have been created in its first several weeks, and we are nearing the thousand-member marker. Members are spreading awareness to their friends about the crisis, raising funds to help Iraqis who have successfully made it here, and mobilizing their congregations and other networks to help resettled Iraqis find support and meaningful employment.
Today we are announcing the addition of a new feature to Netroots, which we believe has great potential: the Netroots Map. This map will allow members (and non-members, too!) to do the following:
- Locate other Netroots members in your city or town so that you can join forces. Each blue pin represents a member: click on it and you can find their profile information and a link to their Netroots page so that you can communicate with them.
- Locate a Netroots chapter nearby by searching for a yellow pin. If you don’t see one close to you, create one and start recruiting your friends and colleagues who you think might be interested in pitching in on this vital cause.
- Locate an Iraqi refugee nearby by searching for a red pin. Many of you want to directly assist an Iraqi ally who has made the long journey to refuge here in the U.S. We have finally devised a secure system that assigns a number to each Iraqi family that we helped reach the U.S. If you find one nearby that you are interested in helping, please send us a message here, providing us with your phone number and the # of the Iraqi you’ve located. (Note, we have not included the street addresses or names of the Iraqis on this map in order to ensure their privacy). Netroots chapters who are sponsoring Iraqis in their vicinity can also build an Amazon wishlist and link it to that Iraqis pin.
We hope this provides a worthwhile tool for Americans who are admirably stepping up to help our Iraqi allies!