"Anyone who needs help, you're going to have to help them": Calif. program helps connect refugees with resources
EL CAJON, Calif. -- Over the past 15 years, California has taken in more than 100,000 refugees escaping violence and poverty in their home countries, and non-profits across the state are trying meet refugees' needs as they begin new lives in the U.S.
Iraqi native Rafid Albawi drove 50 minutes through the region known as the "Triangle of Death" to get to work each day.
"It's really very difficult, very difficult, you cannot imagine it," Albawi tells CBS News.
Albawi and his family escaped the violence in Iraq 6 months ago. Now, they live in this San Diego suburb with other refugees.
Albawi says most people in the area are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
California resettled nearly 8,000 refugees last year, the most in the country. The state also received more Syrian refugees than any other. Starting over in a new world comes with challenges, like learning English and finding a place to live. It often takes weeks before refugees receive government benefits.
"With a constant stream of new refugee families arriving here in southern California each month, volunteers are scrambling to get them much needed resources," says Miry Whitehill, who launched a website called Miry's List. Families make a list of their needs like diapers, clothes and furniture -- and donors can purchase the items on Amazon.
Whitehill started with three families eight months ago.
"Around the time of the election, I stopped being able to keep up with the inbound messages from volunteers and donors," she says.
Now she's working with 100. Albawi was one of the first refugees she helped. He now works for Miry's List.
"Anyone who needs help, you're going to have to help them," Albawi says.
Albawi spends his days in his new neighborhood, checking on other new arrivals to America.