Providing and restoring shelters is one of the most essential and urgent needs for displaced people in disaster and war zones. Shelters are one of the primary factors in ensuring families’ survival. They also provide a sense of security, giving people a small place to call home, no matter how simple, where they can take refuge with their families.

The shoes project may seem simple and a secondary need, but the repeated complaints and urgent appeals at this time highlight the severe rise in shoe prices. Most people, including children, are walking barefoot, exposing themselves to injuries and infections due to this shortage.

This is a project that focused solely on the precious children who inspired us to launch our broader campaign to support their struggling families, who have found themselves with no means to secure a safe and basic life for their little ones. One of our initial ideas was to provide winter clothing for children, but we couldn’t prioritize it at first because it was less urgent than shelter or more costly and less available than other essentials like shoes.

We tried to help the youngest children at a time when Gaza City is experiencing a severe shortage and an unimaginable rise in the prices of essential baby necessities, such as milk and diapers. Here, our heroes stepped in—driven by compassion and a deep passion to save these infants who rely entirely on formula feeding—by providing them with milk and diapers to make their lives possible.

One day, I (Allaa) received a message from Mohammed (my best friend) who makes our projects real on the ground. A child named Ahmed had made a request. Mohammed sent me a video of Ahmed, showing me how his broken glasses were held together with a wire. I could see in his face that he was struggling to ask for something, but he truly hoped for a new pair of glasses.

A similar project to our first shoe project, but on a larger scale and with greater facilitation. This serves as an example that not all merchants exploit crises for selfish gain—some are genuinely committed to being part of a charitable cause and setting an example of ethical business conduct. We received an offer from a merchant who, upon hearing about our shoe project, expressed his willingness to provide us with a large quantity of shoes at a special price. Additionally, he generously waived his usual transaction commission, which typically ranges from 25% to 35%.

A period of pause felt devastating for us, as we were unable to carry out projects to help children and their families due to a lack of resources. During that time, we were still able to assist some families and urgent cases with specific medical needs, as we always do without interruption. However, we were also eager and hopeful to launch new projects that would reach a larger number of families by providing them with a variety of essential supplies.

We are incredibly proud of you, our generous donors, and deeply appreciate your efforts in bringing hope and smiles to the lives of these families.

Our friends during Ramadan need more attention in terms of nutrition and ensuring a basic supply of vegetables that are used daily to prepare their meals. After discussions, it was agreed that distributing vegetable parcels would be sufficient to meet a family’s needs for more than a week to ten days. This is particularly important in this critical period of food scarcity and significantly rising prices.

Healing for your soul and spirit—expressing a heartfelt desire, speaking, or writing a word can lead to an action, whether by you or someone else, that becomes a reality. This act can save a child or a person in desperate need. Giving in this way is truly a remedy for the soul and spirit.