From palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com Mon Sep 18 16:28:30 2023 From: palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com (palestinianrightssacregion at list.omsoft.com) Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:28:30 -0700 Subject: Join/donate to UNRWA's Gaza 5K: Critical help Message-ID: Dear friends: It's late in the game, but our local coalition for Palestinian rights has again formed a Sacramento team for the Sept. 30 Gaza 5K run/walk in San Mateo, a fund-raiser for UNRWA, the agency responsible for crucial humanitarian services for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere. Trump cut all U.S. funding for it; Biden has only partially restored it; and two GOP Congress members are right now holding up $75 million in food aid to make a political point. You can let them know you'll double your donation in response. See the graphic below, and messages from Gaza below that. Please help out and pass this on to your own friends, other lists, etc. Receiving it from you will more likely spark a response. Here's what anyone can do: * Make a donation through our team. Go to https://bay-area-gaza-5k.unrwausa.org/team/sac4palestine and click on the "donate" button. Scroll down and see the team members. Your $ can be through one of their pages, or general. Same destination. * Join the team and raise funds based on your own participation -- it helps get a response from your personal friends. To further encourage them, go to the same page and click on the "register for the 5K" link to easily create your own fund-raising sub-page. You need not actually run, walk or even be there. Symbolic solidarity is welcome. A minimal amount raised gets you a T-shirt. There's more swag for larger amounts. * If you wish, make the early morning trip to San Mateo on Sept. 30; the camaraderie is a blast, as are the food, music, scenery. Want to carpool? Contact me, dlmandel at gmail.com or 916 769-1641. * If there's enough interest, we may have a local run/walk/gathering again this year on the same day at Southside Park. Interested? Contact Deb Condon, debcondon at aol.com. Here's a video " from Gaza to the Bay area with love" that shows some of UNRWA's activities there. Finally, this email from Nahed of UNRWA USA lays out why we do this and why it's so important. Read on... Meet Duaa. Duaa was in fifth grade, living in the Gaza Strip, when an Israeli missile hit her neighbor's home. She went into shock. She couldn't speak, walk, or do daily activities alone. Her family panicked as they watched their bright 11-year-old slip further and further away. That's when her UNRWA mental health counselor, Mohamed, stepped in. Mohamed worked tirelessly with Duaa. After six months of patience and persistence, Duaa slowly regained her ability to speak, and returned to school without pressure. Three years later, Duaa was back to the top 10% of her class. Today, thousands of children like Duaa still need critical trauma support from UNRWA. This is why you and I are here. We created the Gaza 5K as a way for you to make mental healthcare a reality for Palestine refugees. We can change the lives of countless children like Duaa, and help refugees reclaim their future with every cent we raise. This is why. Don't forget it! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 730178 bytes Desc: not available URL: