Gaza Emergency Relief Fund
Project Highlights
Rebuilding Alliance started this fund to provide in-depth help to one family at a time including food, clothing, roof and home construction, medicine, and more. Each of our NGO partners is identifying families that qualify.
Project Update
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Gaza Emergency Relief Fund
“You did us a great favor when you improved our house. I couldn’t afford doing anything to my house because I have no work and no job, but now I can enjoy my house again. Thank you all. I really appreciate your efforts to help me and my family.” --a father of 8 in Gaza
Rebuilding Alliance started this fund to provide substantial help to one family at a time. Types of assistance include providing food, clothing, shelter, medicine, materials to start their own business, and more. Each of our NGO partners identifies families that qualify, and we collaborate to provide what a family needs to get back on their feet.
The Emergency Fund started with one family who lived in shocking conditions. Among other things, their home had no running water, kitchen, or bathroom. Their children were malnourished. Helping this family was Rebuilding Alliance’s first foray into case-based management. Our NGO partners in Palestine provided detailed project reports, and vendors for this project were vetted according to U.S. laws and regulations. This valuable learning experience led Rebuilding Alliance to help more families through the Gaza Emergency Relief Fund.
Location: Gaza Strip
Project Partners: Women Programs Center Rafah, Youth Vision Society, Al Basma Club for the Disabled, Al Amal Society for Rehabilitation
It Started With One Family
Project Partner: Women Programs Center Rafah
The Gaza Emergency Relief Fund started as a way to help the family of Fatma and Salim. When our team in Gaza visited them and their children, they were shocked at how malnourished they looked. Rebuilding Alliance was moved to help. At the time we met them, they had 7 children and another on the way. They were living in a shack with no running water and uncovered windows. They had to cover their faces while they were sleeping because insects would crawl all over them. One of their sons, Kareem, had an eye infection.
Executive Director, Donna Baranski-Walker, with Mr. Salim
Rebuilding Alliance started a fund on GlobalGiving that won a bonus grant. Donations went first for food and medicine for Kareem’s eye. Then, Rebuilding Alliance hired contractors to refurbish their home. The head of the Women’s Program Center Rafah, Mrs. Najah, also accompanied Mrs. Fatma to shop for new clothes for her children.
Helping this family was Rebuilding Alliance’s first foray into case-based management. Our NGO partners in Palestine provided detailed project reports, and vendors for this project were vetted according to U.S. laws and regulations. This valuable learning experience led Rebuilding Alliance to make ambitious plans to help more families with the fund.
“You did us a great favor when you improved our house. I couldn’t afford doing anything to my house because I have no work and no job, but now I can enjoy my house again. Thank you all. I really appreciate your efforts to help me and my family.”
—Mr. Salim
A Widower Gets a New Start
Project Partner: Youth Vision Society, Gaza City
“Thank you, Rebuilding Alliance, for giving me a new life when I thought I lost all hope.”- Mr. Khader
Mr. Khader, a 50 year old widower, started a textile factory 20 years ago in Gaza. The blockade imposed on Gaza 14 years ago caused the economy to collapse and forced his business to close. His wife became seriously ill and died, leaving him and his family of eight children (two of them visually impaired) traumatized and in debt. Funding received from the Gaza Emergency Relief Fund allowed Rebuilding Alliance and our Palestinian NGO partner, the Youth Vision Society, to bring some stability and hope to Mr. Khader and his family.
Mr. Khader was able to pay back some of his debt and to rent and refurbish a small shop from which he sells basic goods. Rebuilding Alliance's Gaza City Coordinator, Neveen Al Nasser, worked with the Youth Vision Society who contracted for and oversaw the work on the storefront. They restored and painted walls, updated electrical wiring, changed the doors, and put up new shelves.
With his modest storefront refurbished and restocked, Mr. Khader is now back in business. He also doesn't have to worry about losing his home as we helped him repay back rent and take out a six-month lease. You can imagine the relief he felt as this burden was taken off his shoulders.
And with this turn of events, Mr. Khader’s youngest daughter, who recently finished high school but whose educational prospects were uncertain due to their finances, now hopes to be able to register as a freshman in college as soon as possible.
Next Steps
At the completion of this project, Mr. Khader and Rebuilding Alliance had big hopes, but because of the pandemic, all businesses in Gaza are collapsing. Rebuilding Alliance is working to connect his store to the World Food Program to be able to accept food vouchers. We also want to do the same with Oxfam and Catholic Relief Services. On the advocacy side of our work, getting Congress and the President to restore aid to NGOs in Palestine in addition to opening the blockade would help Mr. Khader a lot.