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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, page 57 Arab-American Activism Success of Blanket Drive Shows Americans Do Care
IN THE LAST two weeks of February, American Palestinian Women’s Association (APWA) collected new blankets and clothes to send to Gazans who have lost everything. After Israel’s 22 days of attacks on Gaza, nearly 100,000 Palestinians, including 56,000 children, are now homeless and have lost their possessions. APWA—a nonprofit, non-political, secular, tax-exempt organization established in 2004 by concerned American Palestinian women in Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC—got to work. Donors dropped off their gifts at various locations, including this magazine’s offices and AET Bookstore, Potter’s House Books, Ravensworth Baptist Church and Bethesda United Church of Christ. Women gathered donations from neighbors and co-workers, and loaded their cars to deliver the items to the drop-off locations. One Palestinian American said she was so upset by images from Gaza that she needed to do something. She left a mother-in-law in the hospital and children with a babysitter to collect blankets from co-workers and neighbors. Her friend whose store had gone out of business due to the economy gave her new children’s clothes with price tags still on them. Another Iraqi American purchased nearly every blanket in a store to give to homeless Gazans. One Washington Report reader sent a huge box of blankets from Wisconsin. The United States Organization for Medical and Educational Needs (US-OMEN) and Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) also collected blankets for Gaza from 29 organizations across the United States. APWA donations in the capital area kept coming even after the California deadline passed, so APWA sent a container directly from the DC metro area. When Gazan families receive their gifts from American women, many of them with warm notes and greetings, we hope they know that we care, even if the leaders we elect are silent. —Delinda C. Hanley |
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