FARGO - An International Potluck dinner at the Plains Art Museum on Thursday, Oct. 20, will feature a presentation by a Moorhead man whose Yazidi family was among about a half-million people in that ethnic group targeted by ISIS as it marched through northern Iraq.

Ezat Khider Hayder will speak about 7 p.m. at the event, which runs runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Hayder worked for the U.S. Army for about eight years and received a special visa to move to America. He and his family moved to Moorhead about a month before the Yazidis were targeted by ISIS. Thousands of Yazidi men were rounded up and killed, thousands of women were forced to become sex slaves to ISIS fighters, and thousands of children were taken to become child soldiers.

Hayder said he is adamant about telling the story of the Yazidi people and raising awareness of the genocidal actions by ISIS.

"We have to stretch out our hands to help our people," he said in a release. "We need to preserve our culture."

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The event is free and open to the public. Attendees can bring a dish representing the culture they know.