We have so much to be grateful for this past year. For tens of thousands of hours given by volunteers. For millions of dollars given by donors. For countless comforting hugs given to families coping with disasters. For hundreds of thousands of blood products collected to save lives. For tens of thousands trained in lifesaving skills. For thousands of heartwarming messages sent to military members and veterans. For tens of thousands reached in our communities with vital preparedness information. For more than one million connected to our region through digital outreach. For every hour, every hug, every dollar, every story shared to fulfill our mission of alleviating suffering – thank you. For sleeves up, hearts open, all in–the essence of everyone who supports the Red Cross. This past year you helped. For that we’re the most grateful of all.
To you and yours, and everyone, we wish a happy, healthy and bright New Year!
After five years of searching on her own, Asha Sugule turned to the Red Cross in Minneapolis for help finding her sister somewhere, she believed, in east Africa.
Story by Katie Kusnierek. Photos by Daniel Soderstrom.
Asha Sugule (above) was separated from her sister Layla for five years when the Red Cross reconnected them in a few months time. Photo credit: Daniel Soderstrom.
In 2006, Asha Sugule married and moved with her new husband from east Africa to the United States, leaving behind her 5-year-old sister Layla. Fortunately, Asha was able to leave Layla with family friends who had a telephone. The separation left a huge void in Asha’s life, but she was grateful to be able to speak with her sister and know that she was doing well.
Asha continued to have regular conversations with Layla for two to three years until the family caring for young Layla abruptly left Nairobi, Kenya, and could no longer be reached by phone. The family could not afford to have a phone and Layla was too young to find the means to contact Asha. So, Asha and Layla lost all contact with each other. Distraught at the thought of her sister being so far away from her and so alone, Asha feared for Layla’s safety who was now a young lady and in need of her older sister’s guidance and love.
Asha tried desperately to find out any information that she could on the whereabouts of her sister. Asha only had hearsay from friends and neighbors to go off of and continued searching for Layla for five years with no success.
In Minneapolis, Yahye Mohamed (right) was the first Red Cross worker to meet with Asha and start the search for her sister Layla. Photo credit: Daniel Soderstrom.
Finally, Asha contacted friends in Yemen who told her to try contacting the Red Cross for help in the search for her sister. Much to Asha’s surprise, Red Cross workers with the Restoring Family Links program were able to track down Layla in a matter of months and deliver a message to Asha with Layla’s contact information on September 23, 2013. After years of separation, Asha was able to reconnect with her sister, who had moved to Ethiopia, married, and was pregnant with her first child.
Today, Asha and Layla are able to speak on the phone and are once again a part of each other’s lives. Asha is hopeful that someday Layla may move to the United States so that they can be reunited, but for now she is happy to have her sister back in her life.
Asha encourages others in her community to contact the Red Cross for help and support. “I am so happy because someone was able to find my family member,” says Asha. She wants others to feel the same sense of relief and joy that the Red Cross gave her.
Last year the Northern Minnesota Red Cross region worked with 53 families on searches for loved ones across international borders. If you have lost contact with a family member following war, disaster, migration, or other humanitarian crisis, please contact us at 612-871-7676 so that we can start your reconnection query.
Story and photo by Carrie Carlson-Guest, American Red Cross
Tiet Nguyen (r) gives a $3,000 donation to Mike Schroeder, a Major Gifts Officer with the American Red Cross, to help those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
In November, the day before Thanksgiving, a kindly cabinetmaker named Tiet Nguyen came to our local Red Cross office in Minneapolis to help those affected by the recent typhoon in the Philippines. When asked why he brought the check in personally, he said he wanted to hand it to someone –not just put it in the mail– and to share his story.
Tiet and his family escaped Viet Nam 1989 after his brothers and father were killed fighting with the Americans against communism. Fleeing for their lives on a small, wooden boat with more than 70 people, Tiet and his family were shot at for hours as they escaped out to sea. After 10 days with very little food and water, they were rescued by a Filipino fisherman, who took them to the island where he lived. Tiet said, “The people so poor – they have no clothes, but so nice, so nice and kind. They gave us everything.”
He and his family stayed in the Philippines for years and survived even more disasters, including a volcano eruption in ’91 and subsequent deadly mudslides. Remembering the details, he said his oldest son Rung was still in a cradle. Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled all those lost in the devastation. “The Red Cross was there – they were always there,” said Tiet, “They are always there when anything happens.”
Eventually, Tiet and his family moved to Minnesota to connect with family. They had another son and Tiet built a cabinet-making business with skills he learned in Viet Nam. Today, he and his wife, Hanh Le live in Coon Rapids. One son recently graduated from Hamline and the other is currently a student at Creighton University in Omaha. When he heard the Red Cross was helping those who had helped him and his family so many years ago, he knew he had to help. He collected donations from friends and family, including his sons, and then he and his wife matched it. “Your sons must have gotten you and your wife’s heart,” I commented. He laughs, smiles and cries at the same time, beaming like a proud papa.
“This is what I do, because of what you do – give a little bit of myself to help. I’ve been there, I know. You helped me and my family and who knows when I might need help again, we never know,” says Tiet.
Tiet shared a check for $3,000. Three thousand inspired, connected, paid forward dollars to help those in need. Because, as Tiet said, we never know. We never know when disasters will strike, we never know when it will affect us or someone we love, we never know what tomorrow will bring. But we – and Tiet – know what we can do, we can help now.
Click here to learn about how you can support the Red Cross and its humanitarian mission.
What is never the wrong size, never requires assembly, never goes out of style and always means something? A gift from the American Red Cross. Our 2013 Holiday Campaign is in full swing and shoppers can go through the online Red Cross gift catalog and purchase a variety of symbolic gifts in the name of people on their gift list and give a gift that means something to those in need.
The holiday gift catalog includes items such as:
Hot meals, a warm blanket or a full day of shelter for a victim of disaster
A comfort kit for an injured service member containing things such as a robe, shower shoes, toiletries and a music gift card
Infant care supplies for babies caught up in a disaster, items such as formula, diapers and more
Vaccinations to help people, especially children, around the world avoid contracting what can be a deadly disease
Gifts that give help the Red Cross in many ways, such as sending trained volunteers, like Karen and Rick Campion from Minnesota, to help people affected by disasters. Most recently, and pictured below, they responded to the Illinois disaster relief operation following the tornadoes that hit November 17, 2013.
The purchase of each symbolic gift item is a tax-deductible contribution that supports the mission of the Red Cross. The catalog gifts are contributions toward a Red Cross program area, not a donation to a specific project or item. Those who participate will receive free gifts such as a Red Cross Water Bottle for a donation of $100 or more or a Family First Aid Kit for a donation of $200 or more.
Other ways you can give something that means something include:
We are there when people need help – assisting someone during a disaster, sending emergency communications to members of the Armed Forces, providing blood to a hospital patient, training people in life-saving skills, or helping people in need around the world. Support the American Red Cross 2013 Holiday Campaign and remember all those who look to the Red Cross for help – give something that means something.
We have so much to be grateful for this past year. For tens of thousands of hours given by volunteers. For millions of dollars given by donors. For countless comforting hugs given to families coping with disasters. For hundreds of thousands of blood products collected to save lives. For tens of thousands trained in lifesaving skills. For thousands of heartwarming messages sent to military members and veterans. For tens of thousands reached in our communities with vital preparedness information. For more than one million connected to our region through digital outreach. For every hour, every hug, every dollar, every story shared to fulfill our mission of alleviating suffering – thank you. For sleeves up, hearts open, all in–the essence of everyone who supports the Red Cross. This past year you helped. For that we’re the most grateful of all.
American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region 