The children who escaped from ISIS through the desert in the heat of summer are not prepared for the cold, rain and snow of winter. Even worse, the children must often slog through raw sewage to go to the toilet, thus risking disease. The children need rubber boots to avoid further suffering.

This urgent need was identified by Spirit of America personnel on the ground in Iraqi Kurdistan.

America Responds

Since the beginning of summer, ISIS attacks have driven some 850,000 innocents to Iraqi Kurdistan, many of them fleeing horrific violence in the desert heat with little more than the clothes on their backs.

After meeting with US officials, local officials and relief organizations, Spirit of America personnel identified an urgent unmet need. Children between the ages of 1 and 5 – some of the most vulnerable members of the refugee population – have little protection for their feet, arriving in Kurdistan with only sandals or sometimes nothing at all. There are more than 100,000 1 to 5 year-old refugee children in Kurdistan.

Spirit of America is providing these children with rubber boots for winter. Our goal is to provide 85,000 pairs of boots to neediest young refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan. Please give now.

SoA field personnel will manage the project on the ground: they will purchase the boots locally, handle finances and manage distribution of the boots to ensure they are given to the children who need them. This is not nameless, faceless assistance. The boots will be gifts of friendship from the American people. And, this is not neutral assistance: as with everything we do, this project is in coordination with US personnel and in support of their objectives.

Thanks to SoA supporters, we are already providing boots to children that need them, just in time for the winter weather. The photo below is Spirit of America’s Isaac Eagan with an Iraqi girl wearing boots from SoA.