Refugee community stepping up to help those impacted in the Carbon Street house collapse

SYRACUSE, NY (WSYR-TV) – The Refugee Food Bank is stepping up to help support the families impacted in the Carbon Street house collapse by putting together boxes of food for them.

“Their whole life just collapsed before their eyes, and we felt that as a community. We can come together and show them support,” Hassina Adams, the co-chair of World Refugee Day and vice president of the New American Forum, said.

Cereal, snacks and scones all included in the boxes for the families.

“We try to give them a wide assortment of food for them for the week, make them smile, give them one thing to take off their list of things to do because it’s a horrible time. They’re thinking 8 million things and what to get to eat doesn’t always happen,” ​Joseph Walker, the director of the Refugee Food Bank, said.

Syracuse, especially the North Side, is a big refugee resettlement community. The family of seven that lived in the house on Carbon Street are Burmese new Americans that have been here for about four years. The other family of six have only been here for 12 days after being relocated by Catholic Charities.

“Our understanding, they were visiting the other family celebrating Eid. They are of the Muslim faith, and then, this tragic accident,” Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said.

It was a celebration that turned into disaster, so the refugee community is trying to help in whatever way that it can.

“Despite the fact that we all come from different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, that love and shared “Ubuntu,” the South African phrase that, ‘I am because you are’, that is what brings us together, and I love that we all encapsulate that in our different ways despite the fact we all come from different backgrounds,” Adams said.

Mayor Walsh said that in the coming days he believes there will be additional ways for people to help these families through this tough time.

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