Here's How to Help Refugees in Syria

Aylan Kurdi was the Syrian toddler in the photo of a small lifeless body on a Mediterranean beach that sent shock waves around the world, according to NBC News

The photo was emblematic of the desperate and deadly struggle refugees face to reach Europe.

A friend of the family, Mustafa Ebdi, told NBC News he had spoken to the boys' grieving father, Abdullah. Ebdi said Abdullah told him the family was trying to cross to Greece on Tuesday when their boat capsized and that his wife and two of their children — Aylan and Ghalib — had perished. Abdullah survived. The family was from the countryside outside of Syria's city of Kobani, Ebdi added.

"The things that happened to us here, in the country where we took refuge to escape war in our homeland, we want the whole world to see this," Abdullah told reporters, according to Reuters. "We want the world's attention on us, so that they can prevent the same from happening to others. Let this be the last."

Here's a list compiled by Today.com of organizations trying to help refugees like Alyan Kurdi as the crisis in Europe escalates:

The UN Refugee Agency: Provides cash for medicine and food, stoves and fuel for heating, insulation for tents, thermal blankets and winter clothing.

Save the Children: Supplies food for Syrian kids and supports education in Syrian refugee camps.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders: MSF is operating three rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea that can carry hundreds of people to land.

Unicef: Delivers vaccines, winter clothes and food for children in Syria and neighboring countries. The agency is working to immunize more than 22 million children in the region following a polio outbreak.

International Rescue Committee: The group's emergency team is in Greece, where nearly 1,000 people are arriving per day.

World Food Programme: The agency says it is struggling to meet the urgent food needs of millions of displaced Syrians.

Mercy Corps: Refugees are most in need of clean water, sanitation services, temporary shelter and food, the agency says.

Aylan Kurdi & Syria's Child Victims of War: A new fund named after Aylan himself. Money goes to "Hand In Hand For Syria," a U.K. based organization that works with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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