Forest, Virginia-November 4, 2014-Vernon Brewer, Founder and President of World Help, traveled to Iraq and Jordan over the last two weeks and saw firsthand the devastating holocaust that ISIS is exacting on Christians and other people of faith in Iraq and Syria.

“‘Holocaust’ is not a term I use lightly, but ISIS has systematically identified and either killed or driven thousands of Christians and members of other faiths from their homes and cities,” said Brewer. “The situation is desperate. As ISIS expands, they continue to kill Christians and force others into crowded refugee camps as they flee from ISIS. I worry that this genocide will approach the massive deaths that we saw in Rwanda or the Sudan. We said then ‘never again,’ but it is happening once again here in Iraq and Syria.”

Brewer traveled just a few miles outside of Mosul, Iraq, where ISIS drove or killed thousands of Assyrian Christians from a city where they have lived for over 2,000 years. The estimates are that more than 500,000 refugees have fled Mosul after Islamists took control on June 10. Because of the inaction inside Iraq and the failure of the international community to heed the threats against Christians, the majority of the refugees who have fled Mosul remain in danger of being attacked once more by ISIS as it continues its jihadi blitzkrieg across Iraq and Syria.

While the region is dangerous, World Help has committed to leading the effort to bring humanitarian assistance to those who are suffering through this conflict. Working with partners on the ground in Iraq, including Preemptive Love, an aid organization that helps children suffering from heart and other hard to treat medical conditions, World Help is bringing much-needed humanitarian relief to the thousands of refugees that are living in these war-torn areas. World Help is also working to establish mobile medical clinics, which will be the first of their kind in the region. They will be equipped to take X-Rays, disperse medicines, and treat patients in the field.

While in Iraq and Jordan, Brewer heard horrific stories of those whose families had been attacked by ISIS. “Here in Erbil, about one and a half hours away from Mosul by car, I have spoken with families who were forced to flee. They describe how ISIS invaded their homes, taking whatever they wanted, and threatened to kill them,” said Brewer. “Perhaps the most heart-breaking story was that of Mazin, a 5-year-old boy who was so traumatized by seeing ISIS behead Christians in his village that he has not spoken a word since that day. He and his family live in a refugee camp in Jordan, while his father remains in Iraq trying to find work to support them. Mazin, and the thousands of other Christians terrorized by ISIS, is the reason World Help is willing to take risks in order to be in the middle of the conflict.”

World Help is not only attempting to help with the medical needs, but also prepare the refugees for the coming winter. Most lack the basic clothing and housing necessities to endure the severe winter conditions that are rapidly approaching. World Help is racing to provide clothing and resources to help meet that need.

To learn more about the ongoing religious holocaust in Iraq and Syria, Vernon Brewer is available for media interviews. Contact Brett O’Donnell at 434-426-0064 or [email protected] to schedule an interview.

B-roll, pictures, and raw video of refugee stories is available to accompany interviews.

Related media resources and Mazin’s complete story, told by his uncle, can be found at: worldhelp.net/press

World Help

Backgrounder 

World Help is a faith-based, humanitarian organization that serves the physical and spiritual needs of people in impoverished communities around the world.

Founded in 1991 by Vernon Brewer as a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian organization, the vision for World Help has since reached beyond fulfilling the spiritual needs of people around the world with the creation of Humanitarian Aid and Child Sponsorship Programs. The Humanitarian Aid program was designed to meet the physical needs of those who are hurting in the farthest reaches of the globe. Today, World Help has shipped 338 containers of critically needed humanitarian aid worldwide. Child sponsorship and advocacy programs reach out to millions of children around the world who suffer hardship, hunger, and disease. Since inception, World Help has provided more than 46,000 sponsorships for children in desperate need by providing the basic necessities of food, clothing, medical attention, educational opportunities, and the message of God.

World Help also serves other areas including helping the more than one billion people in our world who lack access to clean water and help eradicate the two million unsafe drinking water deaths every year, 90 percent of whom are children. By raising awareness and implementing solutions, World Help provides clean, safe water that changes lives and transforms communities.

World Help has touched over 72 million lives in 68 countries through Child Advocacy, Humanitarian Aid, Bible Distribution, and Church Planting. Visit: worldhelp.net.