“In 2014, when Israel’s bombing runs targeted homes in the Gaza Strip, the question was what are we doing to do? How are we going to help?” Donna Baranski-Walker, Founder and Executive Director recalled. 

When tragedy strikes, some of us are called to action and seek ways to assist those caught in the crossfire, and ways to immediately assist the Palestinian families in Gaza in the summer of 2014 was exactly what Donna Baranski-Walker, Founder and Executive Director of Rebuilding Alliance, sought out to do. For 51 days during the summer of 2014, 1,000 bombs per day were dropped on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Forces during Operation Protective Edge, leaving thousands of casualties, injured and displaced. Over 265,000 Palestinian families in Gaza Strip sought refuge in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as well as private and governorate schools. These schools, however, were not safe from attacks. 

“We started by putting people on the [phone]line,” Baranski-Walker recounted. 

Stay Human Conference Calls were held by which RA and constituents contacted their elected officials and Congressional staff to urge them to take action to stop the bombings in Gaza. These calls were being conducted every other day. During the early calls, RA had Khalid Nasrallah, who is a social worker and member of one of the families that Rachel Corrie stood to protect in 2003, as well as peacemakers from the West Bank and Israel about what they were experiencing on the ground during this time. 

Baranski-Walker remembers Khalid Nasrallah commenting that the Palestinians in Gaza needed help delivering hygiene kits that would include basic items, such as soap. As more families were displaced and moved into schools with inadequate infrastructure, such as access to proper plumbing and showers, emergency hygiene kits were of utmost importance. 

“The question became, how are we going to get emergency hygiene kits together and distribute them?” Baranski-Walker said. 

The items for the emergency hygiene kits were bought on credit and a promise to repay for the items were made to local stores. That’s right: the stores had full inventory of items, but the community members do not have the money to purchase the items on their own. At that point, the financial banks were closed for three months. The task, then, became to convince the store owners to provide the inventory, such as toothpaste, soap and shampoo, make the emergency hygiene kits for each family, and go classroom-to-classroom (4 families per classroom) to distribute them.

“We started with one school in the city of Rafah and were able to then do the same for schools in Khan Younis and Jabalya. It was great hearing from the first school and seeing this endeavor be a successful one,” Baranski-Walker commented. "But the heartbreak came on the day after our fundraiser when an errant missile struck just outside the gate of our first school, killing the icecream man and five others. This was the one that pushed U.S. President Obama to say 'enough', and then the bombing ceased."

How do we do it? At the same time Operation Protective Edge was happening, George Zeidan, founder of the Right to Movement group, was in San Francisco with other Palestinian runners for the Race to Recognize Palestinian Villages, and this proved to be an opportunity and wrote to the American Arab Antidiscrimination Committee in Orange County who joined us on this endeavor. RA ended up raising $48,000 for the emergency hygiene kits!

“This was a massive undertaking that actually worked despite the harsh circumstances,” said Baranski-Walker. After this project, RA along with your help was able to undertake projects, such as Clothing Drive for Gaza Families after the 51 days of 1000 bombs/day in 2014; Backpacks and School Supplies for Gaza’s Neediest Children in 2015; and Brighten Future of Gaza’s Children between 2015-2020.