UNRWA USA is an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides support for the humanitarian work of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) through advocacy, fundraising and education. UNRWA USA aims to educate the general American public about the situation of the Palestinian refugees and generate support for UNRWA’s programs in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
UNRWA USA supports all UNRWA programs, but puts special emphasis on select programs each year. Information on current programs can be found at: unrwausa.org.
Ahead of today’s crucial Pledging Conference at the United Nations in New York, our Executive Director Mara Kronenfeld (she /هي / elle / ella) and Director of Philanthropy Hani Almadhoun hosted UNRWA Commissioner General Lazzarini for a private donor briefing on the situation facing Palestine refugees on the ground and how the UN agency is responding to those needs.
Thank you to all who made time to join us!
Executive Director, UNRWA USA. If I am for myself alone, who am I? I am against racism pure and simple.
A powerful heart filling evening with some of NYC/Tri-State area's finest people - who came out to hear from UNRWA's Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini and generously support UNRWA -- a United Nations' organization doing its best to serve the desperate humanitarian needs of a besieged population of 2 million in Gaza. 197 of our UNRWA colleagues, in fact, have made the absolute sacrifice for this work and we mourn their deaths. My colleagues, Hani Almadhoun and Nahed Elrayes and I, were pleased to say to hi to old UNRWA USA friends and meet so many new supporters last night. We are enormously grateful to Ayat Masoud, Esq. and her husband for hosting the event and their wonderful Al Badawi Palestinian restaurant in the upper east side.
Last week, we bid a fond farewell to our Communications Manager, Diala Ghneim, after 2.5 years of service. ❤️
Diala has been a key part of our team, helping to lift up the voices, experiences, and humanity of Palestine refugees through her management of our social media, #VoicesofUNRWA blog, #LetsTalkUNRWA speaker series, and the #PalestineGrapevine monthly newsletter.
We are grateful for her dedication and passion for Palestine. 🇵🇸 And as we get ready to welcome a new comms manager and a content creator, we invite you to be part of our narrative.
Your personal stories are essential to the history and future of @UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Share what inspired you to support Palestine refugees and UNRWA USA, our nonprofit, using this form: https://lnkd.in/ecsfM5FE
While things won’t be the same around here without Diala, we wish her all the best in her next chapter. We look forward to receiving your stories and continuing to write our story together! ✍️
Every day our UNRWA USA team grieves.
We grieve for those millions of lives held hostage to their futures in 17 years of a brutal Israeli blockade of air, sea, and land of Gaza. We grieve for those occupied, unlawfully arrested, violently provoked, and forcibly displaced in East Jerusalem and the West Bank for decades. We grieve for innocent civilians killed and taken hostage on October 7th. We grieve for the tens of thousands of civilians killed in Gaza in the last nine months of brutal war on Gaza. The 17,000+ orphaned children. The 1000+ children maimed (more than any modern war time setting). Those who have been burned alive; those who have died seeking airdropped food in the sea; those who have died under the United Nations blue flag; those 193 UNRWA colleagues who have been killed doing their jobs -- serving the humanitarian needs of a desperate population. We grieve for 11 universities in the Gaza Strip blown up by the Israeli military. For countless hospitals in Gaza, and 2/3s of residential buildings across the Strip, rendered useless by the same. For a population facing a man- and woman- made famine projected on our TV and computer screens nightly and yet those in power do little to stop it. For a population of families forcibly displaced up to 9 times in as many months and facing the rampant spread of disease. Who wait in lines of hundreds to use a bathroom and thousands to access a shower. Whose children shudder uncontrollably in fear every night.
But this latest loss is something that hits in yet a different way. Like the killing of our dear dear colleague Hani Almadhoun's brother Majed, Majed's wife Safa, and four of their beautiful children, Siwar, Nirman, Omar and Ali. Those devastating and tragically avoidable losses broke down our team to its core. And this latest lost does as well.
This gentleman. This gentle man, Saadi Mdoukh, is (was) the director of the wildly talented Gaza-based Sol Band. And he was responsible for the filming of the beautiful Gaza to the World video UNRWA USA aired to the world in August, 2023. This film was the creative baby and labor of love of our wonderful development manager, Nahed Elrayes. Nahed, a brilliant musician himself, conceived of this tribute to show the world the beauty and humanity of Gaza. In retrospect it has become a souful and sorrowful tribute to "what was" but we pray with all of our hearts it is also the foretelling of "what will be again." You'll notice a cameo from Motaz Azaiza as well.
With all the love to Hani and Nahed and everyone on our staff, UNRWA's staff, and those legions of regular people in the world feeling these losses. This is to remind us of the joy that was possible in a hallowed besieged land.
Please relive this video for a moment of joy in these dark times:
This is exactly the reason for our #Gaza5K walk/runs. If you want to support the mental health of Gaza’s children and provide trauma support, join us at the next one: gaza5k.org
Around 300,000 UNRWA students have been out of school for nearly 9 months in #Gaza.
UNRWA teams continue to reach them in shelters and damaged buildings to offer critical play and learning activities.
Children need a ceasefire. They need to go back to school.
#EducationForGaza
UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in #Gaza, where it is “at the centre of efforts to avert starvation” says Nick Kristof on The New York Times.
Read about the irreplaceable role of UNRWA and why undermining its efforts would only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis 👇
https://lnkd.in/dv8i7fua
Super-connector obsessed w/ culture, community, and making things happen. As a mental health + refugee advocate, I'll always fight for what's right! Recipient of two 40 under 40 awards. Let's link up!
Despite working in unspeakable circumstances, thousands of UNRWA staff continue to serve their communities in the Gaza Strip. Jaber is one of them.
Jaber works as a counselor at an UNRWA school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat, where he tries to bring some joy to children through play activities.
When you participate in our #Gaza5K walk/runs, you're directly funding the mental health services that Jaber provides. Our next big event is September 28th. You can get details and sign up at gaza5k.org to join Jaber in his mission of bringing more smiles to the faces of children in Gaza.
🎥: UNRWA
Just weeks after people were forced to return to a devastated Khan Younis, Israeli authorities have issued new evacuation orders for the area.
Yet again, families face forced displacement. We estimate 250,000 people will have to flee. Even though nowhere is safe in #Gaza.
