Iskashitaa Refugee Network

Iskashitaa Refugee Network faces a dire threat to its mission of harvesting 75,000 pounds of fruit and resettling UN refugees into the Tucson area. Our creaking, 22-year-old harvesting van needs to be replaced. The US Department of Agriculture approved a grant for Iskashitaa to buy one in 2024, but the Trump administration put the funds into limbo.

See Mort Rosemblum's editorial about Iskashitaa's funding stress.

A new van that can haul 37.5 tons of fruit annually will cost $75,000, including insurance. We are a volunteer-based nonprofit and cannot afford such a purchase on top of day-to-day operations.

 This year alone, Iskashitaa has received 10,000 refugees. "In a few words. Iskashitaa Refugee Network is there to walk along with the refugees and to let them know that they're not alone," says Board Member Simba Rusita

Founded in 2003, Iskashitaa means "working cooperatively together" in the Somali language, embodying our approach. Iskashitaa Refugee Network (IRN) is a network of Tucson volunteers and UN refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East who locate, harvest, and re-distribute locally grown fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste.

Refugees are not illegal immigrants or asylum seekers. A refugee is a person who has fled their home country and cannot return due to persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion/ political activity, or membership/activity of a particular social group.

Refugees from more than 30 ethnic groups learn the geography of Tucson, gain valuable life skills, improve their English, develop a US work history, and access healthy foods and food preservation techniques.

Meanwhile, our harvest van has 273,000 miles on it and is letting us down. The doors stick, it costs $100 per trip to fill it with gas, and it has barely enough room for 2,500 pounds of fruit plus 5 passengers and equipment.

This is why Iskashitaa asks for your generous donation of $100, $500, or $1,000 to keep us in operation and working with a new 2025 Ram ProMaster Cargo Van.