You can bring joy to children in Gaza this Eid

Eid al-Adha commemorates the spirit of sacrifice, something we have become all too familiar with here in Gaza. The holiday is supposed to be a time of celebration and community for people to enjoy feasts, decorative lights, sweets, and laughter.

This year eid will look very different in Gaza. After eight months of war, nearly all the things we had come to rely on and cherish in life have seemingly disappeared.

Eid will begin this weekend, and with it our team in Gaza is determined to bring comfort to families who have endured the unimaginable. But we need help. A gift of $25 or more today will provide meals and food parcels to families in need and special treats for children to celebrate Eid.

As the situation across Gaza continues to change, different neighborhoods are experiencing different needs and restrictions. This is where Anera’s strength shines. We come from these communities, we know these neighborhoods and we have networks of people all throughout Gaza informing our programs. This eid, with support from our donors, we plan to meet families where they are and prioritize children.

Our teams in the West Bank and Jordan are working diligently to procure and deliver meat that will provide much-needed protein to displaced families in Gaza. In the north, we are distributing nutritious, balanced food parcels and eid sweets for children. And in the south, we have a special opportunity to make eid as close to normal as possible this year. In Gaza, no child’s eid is complete without ice cream slushies. Our team here has identified a local vendor who can make this happen, which we plan to distribute alongside events to provide a sense of normalcy for children who have had few opportunities to be a child since October.

• $20 can provide food parcels to two children in northern Gaza.
• $50 can provide 100 children in southern Gaza with special treats and events to celebrate eid during war.
• $100 can provide a psychosocial support session for 100-150 children.

We have the opportunity to do something truly special to help the children of Gaza celebrate eid amidst unimaginable violence and hardship. Individual donations now make a world of difference for displaced families trying to find some sense of normalcy eight months into the war.

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