Community members in Cary write letters to congressmen calling for ceasefire in Middle East

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Janna Hines could not sit by any longer.

So she drove from Durham to Cary Thursday night to write to her local representative.

"My physical safety is not in danger," she said. "It's the least we can do."

Hines and others wrote letters to Valerie Foushee, Wiley Nickel, Deborah Ross, and others not just condemning the violence but asking those representatives to sign a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

"I know what it felt like in 2020," Hines said. "The support I've felt from so many of my friends across so many identities especially my Muslim friends, my Palestinian friends."

ALSO SEE: Biden makes case for US assistance to Israel and Ukraine, links Putin and Hamas

The letter-writing event was organized by the Light House Project, which offers space for the Triangle Muslim community to come together.

"It's nice to be able to offer this space to the community, give each other support, to give us a voice and voice our concerns as to what is going on," said Nadia Khan, executive director.

One voice at the event was 16-year-old Yasmin Said, a student at Leesville Road High School.

Her mom is Pakistani and her father is Egyptian.

"The issue is bigger than that," she said. "If it's something you are really passionate about, something you really want to see change, you have to be willing to put yourself in a little bit of an uncomfortable situation knowing the people you are fighting for are in a much more uncomfortable situation."