Families in the El-Nasser area of Gaza City are receiving much-needed packets of food from Anera and the Society of Women Graduates.
In April and May 2009, 4,500 packages will be distributed to fill empty stomachs and help ease the stress of feeding needy families.
Dalia Maeroof, a volunteer with the Society of Women Graduates, says the families register for their packages and, once their names are listed, they go to the closest warehouse to receive three boxes and later another two boxes. ‘That should be enough for two months,” Dalia estimated.
The packages contain milk, baby food, lentils, canned vegetables, tuna, jam, pasta and other food staples.
“We are so happy to have this food. My husband is jobless. He has a heart disease,” said Sabah, a mother of eight. “I am raising my kids alone. We live in very tough economic conditions. What I can do?”
Amal, a widow and mother of seven, heard about the food parcels from her oldest daughter who is a volunteer with the society of Women Graduates. “I am glad my daughter is a part of this process,” she said with a note of pride.
Anera organized the food distribution program in partnership with The Society of Women Graduates, which was established in 1974 as a cultural outreach non-profit. The program should reach about 2,130 hungry families and malnourished children.
One woman who received the packages was still worried about the cost of other basic supplies. “I was so glad to find that the packages included cooking oil, meat and milk, which are good for the kids but so expensive. And a lot of these items are not available in Gaza right now or they just cost too much.”
Funding for these vital food packets, purchased and prepackaged in the West Bank, came from the Associates of Rural Development through a generous grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
