It’s Time to Stand Up

The time to act is now. Apathy is not an option. We must stand together to ensure that tomorrow is better than today.

By the time the Rescue Dinner is over, 4,320 people (24 every minute) will have been forced to flee from their homes due to conflict, violence and persecution. They are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. They are children who only know a life of fear and war. 

For more than 80 years the mission of the International Rescue Committee has been to provide aid and sanctuary to these, the dispossessed and oppressed. Now, for the first time, that mission, and the commitment of the global community to the world’s most vulnerable, is under attack. Refugees are demonized and scapegoated and doors are shut in their face. 

We are here today to affirm the values of compassion and empathy, to stand against fear and hatred, to support America’s tradition of welcoming refugees and immigrants, and to show that America at its best is a country that tears down walls. We are not a country that builds them. 

We must stand together right here, right now, to turn our ideals into action and ensure that tomorrow is better than today.