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THE FORUM DAILY

Dear Readers of The Forum Daily, 

We know you didn't expect to hear from us this week, but I want to
highlight some of The Forum Daily items we've found most compelling
this year.  

We hope you appreciate The Forum Daily and the work that goes into it.
For my part, I can't say enough about the team that puts it together:
Dynahlee Padilla-Vasquez, from start to finish (don't ask what time
she wakes up); Clara Villatoro, who has gotten up to speed so quickly;
Katie Lutz, our regular proofreader; and our Forum communications
colleagues who step in so ably and willingly when needed. 

I also want to thank everyone who has sent us story suggestions,
constructive criticism and kind notes - we greatly appreciate all of
them.  

If you would like to support the Daily and the Forum's work, you can
donate here
<[link removed]>.
 

On to our list! If you have a different story that stood out to you this
year, please share it with us. I'm at [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>. 

Best wishes for a happy, healthy 2023! 

Dan Gordon 
Vice President of Strategic Communications 
National Immigration Forum 

**MYSTERY SOLVED** - For almost a decade, Ayda Zugay has been
searching for a woman named Tracy, who gifted her and her sister an
envelope with $100 after fleeing the former Yugoslavia, Catherine E.
Shoichet of CNN
<[link removed]>
reported in May. "I want to be able to find Tracy to thank her for her
generosity, for her kindness, for her empathy, and for welcoming my
sister and I," Zugay said in a video on Twitter
<[link removed]>.
Thirty-four hours after CNN published the story - and with the help of
two of Tracy's close contacts - Zugay was able to connect with Tracy
over Zoom, wrote Shoichet in a touching follow-up story
<[link removed]>.
"I just want to encourage everybody in the world to just be kind. What
does it hurt? Except it helps everyone ..." Tracy said. "So, I'm very,
very thankful that I have found you girls, that you have found me." 

**THE PLIGHT OF DREAMERS** - "I began to see that Kansas City was just
as much my home as anyone else's," Diana Martinez Quintana, a DACA
recipient and policy entrepreneur at policy think tank Next100
<[link removed]>,
wrote for the Kansas Reflector
<[link removed]>
in September. "The only difference for me was that I needed to fight to
be able to stay." A couple days later in the Los Angeles Times
<[link removed]>,
Maria Duarte, an essayist, poet and DACA recipient, wrote eloquently
about living in limbo in this country: "I do not know Mexico; I know
California. I have formed a life here ... adjusting to the nuances of
this melting pot. What else can I do to be considered worthy of
citizenship, to be given a piece of paper that will allow me to live
without fear?"  

**COMPELLED BY FAITH** - Faith groups will continue to welcome and
support immigrants and asylum seekers with compassion, even if Congress
fails to pass immigration policies and reforms, according to executive
director of Hope Border Institute Dylan Corbett. "The vast majority of
hospitality is led by faith communities. Faith communities have proven
that we can draw on our narratives and draw on our traditions to show
what can be," Corbett told Baptist News Global
<[link removed]>'s
Jeff Brumley earlier in December. "We don't have to buy in to the lie
that we have to be afraid of migrants." For more on faith, community and
finding common ground in a way that bridges differences, read this
Chronicle of Philanthropy
<[link removed]>
piece from leaders of four major civic institutions. 

**'LIFELONG FRIENDS'** - For Savannah Morning News
<[link removed]>,
Drew Favakeh told the story in January of how Mahdi (who worked for the
Afghanistan military), his cousin Shukria, and her children escaped the
country after "endless red tape" and resettled in Savannah, Georgia,
last December. Inspiritus, formerly known as Atlanta-based resettlement
agency Lutheran Services of Georgia, connected them with the Sprunger
family, who are caretakers of the Wesley Gardens Retreat Center. They
hosted Mahdi and his relatives for two weeks while the agency secured
their permanent home. "Together, the American and Afghan families
enjoyed long cups of tea, cooked and ate large batches of Biryani, a
Middle-Eastern mixed rice dish, and went on hour-long walks across the
quaint Moon River, across from the retreat center's 60 acres," writes
Favakeh. "At first, we thought it was just a transitional commitment,
but now it's very obvious that we'll be lifelong friends," said
Abbie Sprunger.  

**PASS THE CHEESE** - "If we don't solve this labor piece, we're
going to continue to see cost increases in the supermarket on food,"
Rick Naerebout of the Idaho Dairymen's Association told Justin Corr of
KTVB
<[link removed]>
in November. The group has been pushing Congress to pass the Farm
Workforce Modernization Act
<[link removed]>. To
the east, the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association continues to
support agricultural immigration reforms, reported Pan Demetrakakes
of Food Processing Magazine
<[link removed]>.
Meanwhile, as interdisciplinary scientist Alice Reznickova wrote
in Equation
<[link removed]>,
many farmworkers who put food on our table don't know where their own
food will come from - or when. Around 50% of the farmworkers are
undocumented migrants
<[link removed]>,
which adds more uncertainty to their lives. We could address many of
these issues by passing reforms that ensure a reliable workforce for
America's farmers and ranchers. 

**OK, TOP 6** - WWE wrestler and film star John Cena traveled to
Europe
<[link removed]>
to meet Misha Rohozhyn, a teenage Ukrainian refugee with Down syndrome
who was confused and stressed about being forced to leave his home in
the face of the Russian invasion - and whose mother told him that the
family was traveling to meet Cena, his personal hero. The video will
melt your heart
<[link removed]>.  

Thanks again for your continued support
<[link removed]>, 

Dan 

 

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