Michaela Gaffke/Winonan

An international non-profit organization based in Minnesota continued their 35 years of work by raising awareness on the Winona State University campus about the Syrian refugee crisis.

The American Refugee Committee (ARC) spoke on Wednesday, Oct. 14 about the Syrian crisis and providing aid to refugees in a presentation titled, “This is Not Just a European Refugee Crisis.”

Clare Gooding and Carly Lunden of the committee talked about the relief they have sent to Jordan to help Syrian refugees. Gooding is the operations and data administrator of ARC, and Lunden works in the communications and development department as a copywriter.

Because of the media, people are seeing the human faces of Syria, Gooding said.

According to Gooding, the ARC has received 300 new donors a week since people have become more aware, while previously there were only three to four new donors a week.

“The power of photography and of journalism opens hearts so people can see the face of political conflict,” Gooding said.

Since the outbreak of a civil war in 2011, Syria has been under widespread violence. The ARC provides shelter, clean water, sanitation, health care, protection and support to people affected.

The ARC is operating in Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and Hama in Syria. They have reached out to 200,000 Syrian people and have fed 5,000. Now, Syrians who have been displaced and have been helped are aiding other Syrians.

The organization is also working with another organization, QuestScope, to give non-formal education to refugees.

Gooding and Lunden said nine million Syrians have fled the country. The crisis is four times larger than the Haiti earthquake, geographically and by the amount of people affected, Lunden said.

There was a warehouse of meals left by another organization that the ARC distributed, which gave 5,000 families food for three months.

Winona State student Yousef Sakor spoke from the audience about his experiences in Syria.

Sakor said people would sit in basements, not knowing when an air strike or bombing could happen. He said someone he knows in Syria told him he only had a glass of milk to consume for the whole day, and that refugees would sell everything they own to pay a smuggler money to take them on a boat away from Syria.

Sakor expressed his happiness about how people are becoming aware of what is happening in Syria.

Gooding said Syria is close to experiencing a famine, and it is difficult to get food into the country. Gooding and Lunden discussed ways people can help.

Lunden mentioned starting a fundraising campaign to raise awareness, and telling people about it to raise more funds. She also said to become educated on the topic by reading about it.

To learn more about the ARC or make a donation, visit the ARC’s website: http://www.arcrelief.org.