COQUITLAM—Local Iraqis are raising funds to help those living under the threat of ISIS in their homeland.

Nearly 200 immigrants and parishioners joined a benefit dinner at All Saints Parish May 9. Organizers say the Iraqi-themed banquet raised $18,000 by May 15 for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

“Our beloved Iraq is currently going through a terrible crisis where acts of genocide, displacement, agony, and loss are a daily occurrence,” said Sahar Najeb, who left Iraq in 2009. She is a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Chaldean Mission, a community that celebrates Mass in Arabic St. Andrew Kim Church.

“Tonight we have come together as a show of solidarity.”

Katrina Laquien, the CCODP animator for B.C. and the Yukon, said it’s been nearly one year since the Islamic militant group took the name ISIS and began targeting religious minority groups in Iraq and Syria.

“Pre-2003, there were about 1.5 million Christians. That number has fallen to under 400,000,” Laquian said.

She estimated 150,000 of those Christians have been displaced by the recent violence. She added other minority groups, such as the Yazidis, also face extreme persecution at the hands of ISIS fighters.

“We are trying to assist the most vulnerable individuals. We recognize, in our role as Catholics, we want to help anyone.”

The banquet included a variety of traditional Iraqi dishes as well as musical performances in Arabic and Aramaic.

“We are so privileged and happy to host this event because I know how important it will be,” commented Father Tien Tran, the pastor of the Coquitlam parish.

He told the crowd he had been a refugee 35 years ago. “In 1980 I escaped from Vietnam and arrived at a refugee camp and waited for a priest to accept me. On an occasion like this, people got together and raised funds and made it possible for me to come here.”

CCODP won’t use the funds to transport refugees. Working with its partners there it is upgrading shelters for families in Iraq; providing non-food items; upgrading water, sanitation, and hygiene; and creating child-friendly spaces.

“We are trying to create environments and areas where children can overcome the trauma they have experienced but still have some social and educational aspects to their lives,” Laquian explained.

Guy Des Aulniers, CCODP’s international emergency relief coordinator, said an estimated 5 million Iraqis are affected by the crisis, including 2.5 million who are displaced.

“The number of people requiring life-saving assistance in Iraq last year doubled, and then doubled again.”

Because of CCODP efforts in Kurdistan so far, 1,244 people have benefited from shelter upgrades, 996 households have received non-food aid, 780 families have improved water and sanitation, and 915 children have played in safe places built for them.

He added that in Baghdad, 1,000 individuals have received food, education, and health support.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, called it a duty of all the baptized to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians.

“From the very earliest of apostolic times, Christians lived in Iraq. It is one of the cradles of Christianity,” he said at the fundraiser.

He said Jesus, Mary, and Joseph experienced exile. “As Christians, the idea that people are refugees and that they are persecuted, this is who we are.”