Every year KASA runs, it runs because of people who gave their time without being asked twice. This year’s volunteer spotlight is not a ranked list — the work people do for this organization does not reduce to rankings — but it is an honest attempt to name and recognize what a year of volunteer service actually looks like.

One of our long-term volunteers has coordinated food distribution in his city for three years. He has a full-time job, three children, and a commute. He still shows up. When we asked him why, he said: I came to this country with nothing and people helped me. I am not going to stop helping now. That is the whole explanation. There is no more complicated version.

Another volunteer teaches Kurdish language online three evenings a week. She has a master’s degree in linguistics and could be doing many other things with those evenings. She chooses to teach because she is genuinely alarmed by the rate at which Kurmanji is being lost in the diaspora, and teaching is the most direct thing she can do about it. Her students consistently rate her as the best instructor in the program. KASA is grateful to both of these people, and to the dozens of others who gave their time this year.