Last week’s edition of the Voices Newspaper included an article documenting the efforts of a Wolcott family and other local volunteers to help Nilab, a 17 year old Afghan refugee who escaped Afghanistan in the waning hours of the U.S. airlift, while the rest of her family was unable to do so. Click here to read the entire article.

We can only imagine how scary and overwhelming it must have been for Nilab when she realized that her family never made it to the United States. The article describes how truly brave and resourceful Nilab is. 

In addition, it demonstrates how so many people have stepped up to support her, especially the Rinaldi family, who welcomed Nilab into their home, and Merri Klar who put together “Team Nilab” to make sure that Nilab has all the support she needs.The article also describes two ways in which the Federation supported Nilab’s efforts. 

First, we connected her to Senator Blumenthal’s office to support his ongoing effort to pressure the Biden Administration to do more to rescue other American allies still in Afghanistan, like Nilab’s family.

Our community can be proud of Senator Blumenthal’s actions to make sure that Nilab’s family and other Afghani allies who are at risk for their support of the United States are not forgotten. Earlier in the year, the Federation was asked to present at a press conference held in Waterbury to support our Afghan allies who were not able to escape to America. Click here to read the remarks of our CEO Gary Jones.

In addition, Nilab needed a number items to make her life better in America. Many members of Team Nilab contributed in a number of ways. However, the Federation was asked to help buy Nilab a laptop computer, which is so vital to her ability to communicate. We were pleased to have been able to provide that support.