Help Feed Traumatized Children in Bethlehem

We are pleased to report some exciting progress in our campaign to restore the lunch program in Bethlehem. Thanks to your support, we have been able to offer lunch to the 33 children we serve for close to two months.

Last week, the campaign entered its second phase, as we welcomed Ms. Abeer Najjar to our team. Ms. Najjar is a trained nutritionist who will be offering support to the children and their families on a weekly basis. Our founder, Khaled Jaraysa, was present as parents and students met with her for the first time. "[Ms. Najjar] was scheduled to meet with families to answer questions for thirty-minutes, but the parents were so thrilled to have access to her expertise that she fielded nutritional questions for more than ninety minutes," said Jaraysa.

Ms. Najjar will work with the children to instill the importance of proper nutrition. Over the next week, the students will keep food diaries to assist in the identification of areas for dietary-improvement. "Thanks to this program, we have already been able to identify deficiencies in iron and key vitamins," said Jaraysa. "It is so exciting to have a nutritionist on board because, ultimately, better nutrition will enhance the success of all of our programs."

While these new developments are encouraging, we want hope to ensure their financial stability. Through GlobalGiving, we have raised just over $5,300 for this project. We have used close to half of these funds to get the program up and running. In order to fully-fund the program for the year, we must raise an additional $11,690. Your gift of $50 would fund a day of nutritionally-balanced lunches for all of the children. We would really appreciate your support at any level.

Thank you!