At first glance, Kadhim Owayez seems like a serious man. Indeed, he had worked with the US Army in the 2000s in his home country of Iraq. Later, he was forced to leave his home for the US in 2014 around the time of the Islamic State’s violent offensive, amidst the power vacuum following the fall of Saddam Hussein. His voice sounds solemn as he shares the story of his displacement. But if one listens closely, it is not hard to hear the care and love in his voice when he starts talking about his children, the city of Ithaca, and his new position at Ithaca Welcomes Refugees as Housing and Food Security Coordinator, which he has held since November 2025.
When asked what his favorite part of Ithaca is, Kadhim says, “Trails. My son and I play soccer and basketball [together]. So we like to [go to] the state parks. We like to walk.” It was because of his son that Kadhim made one of the hardest decisions he ever had to make. “It was my last card to play. I didn’t want to leave my country but I had to because there was a civil war going on.” He grimaces. He was deeply concerned about having to raise his son in a politically unstable place. “I bet this applies to all the people who come to the United States: They didn’t want to leave their countries, but the geopolitical situation, the economic situation, lack of freedom… I would say all these reasons push people to leave the countries they were born and raised in,” explains Kadhim.
On top of the emotional tolls that come with migration, moving to Ithaca posed additional challenges to Kadhim and his family. Limited access to culturally appropriate food was one of such challenges. “We’re Muslims who eat Halal food. Halal means that animals that produce meat should be slaughtered a certain way according to the Sharia (Islamic) law,” Kadhim explains. Since there are no sources for such Halal beef, lamb, and chicken in Ithaca, he has to make monthly trips to Syracuse to buy meat in bulk. Other Muslim immigrants in Ithaca have to put in similar effort to feed their families in accordance with their culture.
Limited access to culturally appropriate food is one of the issues Kadhim has been mitigating as IWR’s Housing and Food Security Coordinator. In his role, Kadhim will educate newcomers about the sources of groceries for diverse cuisines and restaurants in Ithaca and surrounding areas.
Many newly arrived refugees and immigrants face food insecurity when they first arrive and do not yet have a stable income. Ithaca’s food pantry network is a great help in these circumstances. “Our community is very generous when it comes to food,” Kadhim said. He helps connect IWR’s refugee and immigrant partners with food pantries they can reach and, thanks to a new partnership with the Friendship Donations Network, he is working to arrange regular food deliveries to partners who cannot yet easily commute to pantries on their own.
Another aspect of Kadhim’s role is—as the position name suggests—focused on housing, which in a college town like Ithaca is particularly challenging for immigrant families. Landlords tend to prioritize students and a rental cycle dependent on the academic calendar over families. On top of that, as many newcomers are not able to legally work immediately after they arrive in the US, high rent poses a considerable challenge to families with little to no income. Kadhim works to find housing that would meet the needs of each IWR family, sometimes thanks to generous landlords who are willing to have some flexibility in order to help out recently arrived immigrants. Working alongside these landlords, IWR can act as a guarantor and provide monthly rent payments, which taper off as partners can get on their feet.
It is clear from Kadhim’s description of his work as IWR’s Housing and Food Security Coordinator that active support from community members—from volunteer drivers and landlords extending a helping hand—is key to making sure that immigrants resettling in Ithaca have food on their tables and a roof over their heads, both of which Kadhim emphasized are crucial for them to be able to continue their journey in a new place in a dignified way. “[Ithaca] is very well-knitted and generous. The idea of openness and welcoming refugees is rooted in the culture of this city,” he says fondly.
In fact, it was community support very similar to that which Kadhim helps facilitate in his IWR role today that first got him on his feet. Kadhim reflects back on the network of friendship in Ithaca that supported his family when they first arrived, helping drive them to doctor appointments and babysit while he and his wife took English lessons. Kadhim feels very grateful for that support and is keen to do his part to help others in the community in turn, thus his involvement with IWR today. “We would love to open the doors to anyone with any capacity to help [in order to] improve our services, [so that] hopefully our IWR partners can become part of our network in the future and welcome more people.”
