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Best Ways To Celebrate World Humanitarian Day In Sacramento

By Steph Rodriguez 

With more than 130 million people living in crisis worldwide—including children—the United Nations deemed August 19 to be recognized as World Humanitarian Day. This day is not only a yearly opportunity to celebrate the spirit that inspires compassion around the globe, but it's also a time to recognize those who face danger and adversity in order to help others. The day was designated by the General Assembly to coincide with the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Iraq. This year, take the time to explore these options within the Sacramento region to show those living in crisis that humanity will continue to pave the way for those in dire need.

World Relief Sacramento
4616 Roseville Road,  Suite 107
Sacramento, CA 95660
(916) 978-2650
www.worldreliefsacramento.com

There are a couple of options for volunteers with World Relief Sacramento, but one truly helps newly arrived refugee families. Join the Good Nieghbor Team at WRS, where a group of five to 10 people from churches or community groups get together to welcome and walk alongside a newly arrived refugee family for six months. The Good Neighbor Team is partnered with an individual refugee or family and works to assist WRS staff with hardships of resettling in a new city. As a volunteer, the goal is to create positive and enriching relationships with newly placed refugees by visiting them at least once a week to see how everything is settling so that each refugee who arrives in the Sacramento area will feel the warm welcome of their new community.

Sol Collective
2574 21st St.
Sacramento, CA 95818
(916) 585-3136
www.solcollective.org

Sol Collective offers a variety of community services available for companies, individuals, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations at affordable rates for any budget big or small. This nonprofit organization works to create services based on the specific needs of the community at large. For more than a decade, Sol Collective works hand in hand with volunteers to ensure that voices from all corners of the city ranging from the Native American, Chicano, Indian and African-American communities are heard and also have a place to educate the youth and form culturally based classes to further bond its surrounding voices to their roots. Volunteer community events include the annual Pinata Festival, Sac Activism School, Souls of the City, and Global Local, an event that brings together artists, musicians, activists, educators, creatives, and inter-generational innovators through unique community activism in Sacramento, Austin, and Staten Island.

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services
3333 3rd Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
(916) 456-1980
www.sacramentofoodbank.org

A local, nonprofit agency committed to serving individuals and families in need with a volunteer force that nears 8,000-strong annually, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services provides free emergency goods and services to 135,000 men, women and children every month. From free turkeys and fixings for families in need during the Thanksgiving holiday, to the annual Run to Feed the Hungry event, this community organization aims to help families with food and clothing access, job training and more. There's even volunteer signup opportunities available online and Sac Food Bank also provides resettlement services for newly placed refugee families. Volunteer with this historic organization today.

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Habitat For Humanity Of Greater Sacramento
819 North 10th St.
Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 440-1215
www.habitatgreatersac.org

For many local, nonprofit organizations, volunteers are the backbone of the company. It's no different at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento. Visit its website where hopeful and new volunteers can create their own, customized profiles and sign up for a variety of volunteer opportunities that suit their schedules. From building homes for those in need or who have suffered natural disasters locally, to global village trips where groups of volunteers will build houses, classrooms and water access for families abroad. At Habitat for Humanity, there are endless possibilities to help local communities and even the world with a little elbow grease.

Loaves & Fishes
1351 North C St.
Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 446-0874
www.sacloaves.org

Sacramento's Loaves & Fishes nonprofit organization prides itself on "providing food, warmth, and a path home for homeless men, women, and children" and they've done so for the past TK years. At Loaves & Fishes, feeds up to 500 individuals and families in need by providing a hot meal seven days a week, use temporary sleeping facilities, use the mental health program on site that provides counseling and referral services and much more. More than 1,000 volunteers revolve around the Loaves & Fishes mission, but the program is always in need of general supplies that range from sleeping bags, backpacks, toothpaste and toothbrushes, coats, blankets, baby supplies and the list goes on. Visit the Loaves & Fishes website for more details on volunteer opportunities and to see the full Needs List to donate where it matters most.

Related: Best Places For Fresh Fruit In Sacramento

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