Of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, more than 1.6 million rely on aid to survive. Gaza is an economically-depressed area where families struggle to feed their children. Kinder-USA has several programs to alleviate the daily suffering of the families of Gaza. The nutritional meals program in Gaza insures that children attend school and receive a nourishing meal each day. The program provides job opportunities for women, whose cooperatives provide the food, while farmers grow the food. Kinder-USA provides emergency food distribution to ensure the health and welfare of the most needy children of Gaza. The female-run chicken micro-enterprise project has been very successful, and women cooperatives provide fresh cheese and other food products during Ramadan and the Emergency Food distribution program. Summer programs for children in Gaza supported by Kinder-USA are a wonderful reprieve from warfare that has inflicted damage on the infrastructure and the lives of families that are struggling to survive. Gaza receives 4 hours of electricity a day, and 96% of the drinking water is contaminated. Summer programs help the children enjoy fun-filled activities and healthy meals at the end of each day. It also employs volunteers who carry out the activities and are able to earn a small stipend. The projects that Kinder-USA is involved in each year are unique to this organization, which has developed a reputation in the Near East for its excellence. The blockade of Gaza's borders has been in effect for 12 years. The World Bank has described Gaza as close to being unlivable. The modest assistance that Kinder-USA gives is a ray of hope for the impoverished families. Kinder-USA supports projects in Lebanon and the Occupied West Bank as well, areas where the U.S. government has cut funds to UNRWA. In Ein el Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon, 18% of children do not attend school. Kinder-USA supports the Social Development Center school where the number of children in school continues to grow. They are offered academic and vocational training as well as after-school tutoring. In Gaza, during the school year, Kinder-USA provided uniforms, shoes, socks, undergarments, and backpacks to 500 children from needy families.
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As a member of the Board of KinderUSA, I am proud of the charity's success in empowering female-headed households through income generation projects. In areas like Gaza that are economically-deprived because of an eleven-year blockade, over 80% of the population does not have reliable access to food. We support women's cooperatives, whose activities support small-scale farmers and supply food baskets to feed needy families made up of 8-10 people, mostly children. Empowering women so they can generate income and feed their families is what sets KinderUSA apart from many other charities.
There are so many charities, but KinderUSA stands alone. Its transparency, projects, and success are not only praiseworthy, but worth emulating, as they set an example for all other charities to follow. Their work to feed the kindergarten-aged students and empower women through jobs and chicken farming are incredibly successful. They work in the most heavily populated region in the world, a region of people who have been denied their human rights and statehood... What they accomplish is no easy feat and well, their work is purely amazing.
This is one organization I always donate to, monthly. They are transparent and do their best to get the most for our donations. KinderUSA has been one of the few organizations who shares with its donor base their trials and tribulations, regardless of the hurdles they face. They have always been straight forward and have always had the children in Palestine in their sight while others were fearful. I have donated to KinderUSA since 2003 while some ran the other way. With the current miserable inhuman conditions in Gaza, we need KinderUSA to give hope to the children. Thank you KinderUSA for giving me an secure, transparent organization to donate my charity.