MYPI is working with all three refugee resettlement agencies in Colorado to provide culturally appropriate aid to Afghan refugee families who will resettle in Colorado, with a current approximation of 3,000 Afghan refugees. We currently run a food pantry for our refugee and immigrant families once a month however with the incoming refugees, we will hold weekly food drives starting the month of November to meet the increasing need. We understand that not all of our incoming refugees will have access to transportation so we are organizing a program to use our established volunteer base to help deliver the food to the refugee families. A majority of our volunteers are native farsi/pashto speakers which will aid them in communicating with the Afghan refugees so that communication is not a barrier and won’t prevent them from food equality. The majority of Afghan refugees have a specific religious diet in which they can only eat meat acceptable by their religious background and so we work with locally owned international food grocery stores so that we can procure halal foods from them for our food pantry. These stores work with local farmers to get halal meat. Rice is a staple food in Afghanistan and the rice provided at regular chain stores is not the type of rice that Afghans normally cook with and so our partnerships with these locally-owned grocery stores that provide access to international foods (including spices) will help provide foods that are both religiously and culturally acceptable to the population we serve and will make them feel comfortable and confident visiting the food pantry when they are familiar with the foods they receive.
Muslim Youth for Positive Impact (MYPI), Broomfield