Sponsor Circle in Marina
dunessponsors@gmail.com, sponsorcircles.org
A little over a year ago, as the United States withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained power, thousands of fleeing refugees didn’t know where they would end up. Meanwhile, a group of 11 neighbors in Marina was watching the international story unfold and wondering what they could do to help. They decided to pool their resources through the Sponsor Circle program, launched by the U.S. State Department. It requires sponsors to be background checked and to raise enough funds to support a refugee family – rent, groceries, bills – for at least three months. The Marina group jumped through hoops, raised money and picked up a family of four at SFO in May. (The family is now five; their youngest daughter, a U.S. citizen, was born in Salinas on July 20; the two older daughters have enrolled in elementary school in Monterey, at a time the Taliban has limited girls’ education.) “We’re not ever going to change the world completely,” Sponsor Circle member Bob Brunson says, “but we do our part.” For this family, it is everything.