Blue Key Campaign: Open your eyes. Open your heart. Open the door.
No one wants to be a refugee, but he is one of 43 million people in the world who have been displaced by conflict and persecution. That number is nearly the combined populations of Texas and New York.
People around the world uprooted by conflict within their own country grew by four percent to 27.1 million, largely the result of persistent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. There are more than 275,000 refugees living in the U.S. alone. When you add in the number of asylum seekers, that makes more than 330,000 people that the U.S. gives shelter to.(UNHCR) These refugees work hard to rebuild their lives, but no one can do it alone. More than 6,000 UNHCR staffers worldwide provide the protection, food, shelter and care that they need, opening doors to a new life, and they need your support. Beth Kanter is the author of Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media, one of the longest running and most popular blogs for nonprofits. She is also a biweekly columnist for What's Trending, covering social good. To learn more about Kanter, click here.