"If we don't, who will" (1 of 6)

Raghad Bushnaq has been helping people in need in informal ways for at least a dozen years, but when refugees started arriving in the Washington D.C. area in large numbers in April 2016, she knew she had to ramp up her efforts in a more organized, systematic way. MOZAIC, a nonprofit based in Sterling, VA, was born.

Initially, the organization was helping seven refugee families. "I had a big feeling, like how are we going to manage, how are we going to fulfill the needs of these seven families,” Raghad recalls. “I couldn’t sleep at night, it was like a nightmare for me.” She recruited community members to help; after a few months, many left saying they couldn’t handle it. But Raghad felt a responsibility to the refugee families who faced so many difficulties.

She receives calls and texts 24/7 and is constantly connecting people, dealing with crises, and helping solve problems; in the hour that we were talking, her phone was abuzz with texts about a crisis that had erupted that morning with a refugee father and his three children.

Today, Raghad and her team of volunteers help almost 200 refugee families from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. “If we don’t stand with them, who will.”(1 of 6)Photographer: George KolotovPlease support Raghad's efforts to care for the needs of refugee families by donating on Mozaic's website: http://www.mozaicinc.org