Help Afghan Christians survive harsh winter

2021 Re-cap:

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UPDATE (12/23/21): Coal for Christmas Appeal features on EWTN

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UPDATE (12/22/21): Coal for Christmas appeal

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE “COAL FOR CHRISTMAS” IS AN URGENT PLEA TO AMERICANS TO HELP PROVIDE HEAT FOR FAMILIES IN PERIL IN AFGHANISTAN

Rescued U.S. Army translator also says an EWTN news show contributed to his rescue and prompted his involvement in an urgent humanitarian initiative to provide critical financial resources for men and women struggling to survive at Christmastime

GREEN BAY,  December 21, 2021 –  The Vulnerable People Project, a project of Human Rights Education and Relief Organization (H.E.R.O.), is calling on Americans to provide urgent financial resources to help save men, women and children in Afghanistan from imminent death during the harsh winter months. The Vulnerable People Project has launched the COAL FOR CHRISTMAS initiative and is there to help countless families amid an escalating humanitarian crisis.

“Without our help thousands of children are going to die,” said Jason Jones, founder of the Vulnerable People Project. “In America, giving coal is saved for the bad kids at Christmas. In Afghanistan, the families hiding from the Taliban want nothing more than coal for Christmas. Right now, one million vulnerable people, many of them Christians, are at risk for starvation and exposure this winter as they hide in safe houses. We stand to serve 5,000 people minimally and urgently need resources from the American people. This Christmas, I’m urging Americans to give the gift of coal, and help to ensure thousands of Christians in Afghanistan stay hidden and receive food and heating supplies they need as they await opportunities to emigrate.”

In August 2021, the United States government pulled out all military resources from the region, and it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of Christians who remain in hiding in Afghanistan seeking shelter and basic needs but have no recourse for survival.

Jason Jones, U.S. Army Veteran, filmmaker and humanitarian, is now urging Americans to help provide critical financial resources in order to help provide wood, coal and propane to save the lives of innocent Christians overseas this Christmas. Watch Jason Jones’ video plea by clicking here.

In an extraordinary move, the Vulnerable People Project is now partnering with a San Diego business owner who was evacuated from Afghanistan in early December. Prince Wafa, a San Diego area resident and American citizen, saw first hand the peril and urgency of the humanitarian crisis and is now providing immediate assistance to the Vulnerable People Project for the COAL AT CHRISTMAS initiative.

“This situation is urgent,” said Prince Wafa, a former translator for the U.S. Army. “Parents are selling their children for food and are desperate for basic survival needs. I understand because I was trapped in Afghanistan. During my crisis, a friend of mine in the United States saw Jason Jones appear on a news segment on EWTN News Nightly. Jason’s organization was our last hope. VPP and my local congressman, Rep. Darrell Issa, were there for me when my wife and I were vulnerable,” said Prince Wafa. “Now that I’m free, it’s imperative that we save others. So I have to pay it forward. The power of one news story helped me get the right connections, cell phones, and money so that my life and my family’s life would be saved. I want to do the same by driving awareness to this urgent need for resources.”

Donations are critical to avoid further loss of life. To donate now, visit www.TheGreatCampaign.org  The Vulnerable People Project is working against the clock and mounting desperation as families are resorting to the unimaginable to stay alive including selling their own children. The United Nations has predicted that over one million children could die  in a collapsed Afghanistan amid its most “perilous” hour.

“We need a hundred thousand dollars to support 5,000 families,” said Jason Jones. “As an American citizen, I have an obligation to respond to this humanitarian crisis. As a veteran, it’s very important that we protect those who are left behind who served with our men and women in uniform – we can leave no one behind. During this Christmas season, there is nothing more admirable or noble than to reach out and provide safety to those in peril of death – a little of our treasured resources will go a long way and will give the gift of life. As this year ends and many Americans look to provide to charities, I invite you to stand with us as we stand with our friends, brothers and sisters in Afghanistan,” Jones said.

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Christians in Afghanistan are facing a winter of extreme hardship as the constant threat of Taliban attacks is compounded by freezing temperatures and food shortages. 

Jason Jones’ Vulnerable People Project have now arranged to provide Afghan families with safe-houses, food, coal and wood if the charity can raise urgently needed funds.

$250 will cover a family of 5 with food and heating for the winter, whilst $2000 will provide a safe-house to multiple families for a month.

Jones told LifeSiteNews’ Jim Hale that his organization has been overwhelmed with requests for help from Afghan Christians threatened by the Taliban, having already evacuated many others from the country.

“Our government didn’t even look over their shoulder to say goodbye (to the Afghans),” Jones said.

“Only a country that abandoned its own child in the womb could abandon its friends in Afghanistan,” he added. “Only Christians that turn their back on the child in the womb could turn their back on Christians in Afghanistan.”

Jones’ charity has created a system to deliver food, wood, coal, and propane for people in Afghanistan as a harsh winter sets in.

He told EWTN over the weekend that they have Christians in safehouses all over Afghanistan, but that it’s getting unbearably cold.

“The U.N. has predicted over a million people dying of starvation this year in Afghanistan,” he said. “And by God’s grace so many of these Christian communities now are connected with us, and so we have this big burden of making sure that they have food and that they have heat, and that they have a roof over their heads.”

“Right now, they’re very cold, right now they’re very hungry, and right now they’re fearing for their life,” he added.

Mustafa Assady, a native of Afghanistan and director of the Vulnerable People Project, says his country is “the most dangerous place in the world right now for Christians.”

Assady told LifeSiteNews that many Christians in Aghanistan are converts from Islam and the penalty for their decision to follow Christ is death, if they are caught by the Taliban.

“Last week I lost a family of six…but they were betrayed by family members before that, so unfortunately now they’re all dead,” Assady explained.

Assady had also told EWTN last week that some people are so desperate that they have sold their own children to avoid starvation.

“People are desperate for food and when they have multiple kids they want to make sure to feed at least some of them, and they think that by selling them they will guarantee food for that child as well as the remaining family members,” Assady said.

Both Jones and Assady have asked people to pray for those Christians left in Afghanistan.

Jason Jones is president and CEO of H.E.R.O. Inc., the 501(c)3 collecting funds for this Afghan Winter appeal.