Family Support
Donation protected
Hi everyone,
This fundraiser is organized on behalf of my husband Mohammed's entire family in Gaz-. My husband and I live in Minneapolis and we have a heavy heart in asking for our community to help support Mohammed’s entire family. His elderly parents, 5 siblings, and siblings families which include 20 children ages 1 to 15 years, are all facing the unimaginable.
We are currently raising funds for 1) emergency day-to-day needs 2) evacuation costs for the entire family and 3) supporting our family's pharmacy mutual aid efforts.
[Image: Updated family photo in the backyard of Mohammed’s parents home in March, 2023 with majority of family.]
The situation is dire and the entire Gaz- strip is facing mass starvation, spread of diseases, little to no medical care, no electricity, no functioning hospitals, a complete blockade of basic necessities, and unrelenting bombardment from air, land, and sea with no where for families to escape as reported by the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch, and other international human rights groups.
Mohammed’s family have been displaced many times already and their homes have all been damaged. At this time the costs for limited day-to-day basic necessities and the costs for evacuations have dramatically increased.
[Image: Some pictures of our family's damaged homes. Entire rooms were blown apart, walls completely gone, stairways completely gone, windows with shattered glass blown out]
We are doing what we can from afar to help them as this devastating situation gets worse and worse. It has been extremely painful to be so far away but this fundraiser is allowing us to provide financial support to our loved ones and give us hope that we can get them out.
We are aiming to provide them with 1) emergency funds for basic necessities needed at this urgent time, 2) funds for coordinating evacuations to help them survive and rebuild their lives from scratch and 3) funds for our family to re-open a pop-up location for their pharmacy to support their community.
The costs for coordinated evacuations have dramatically increased. When we can, we’re prioritizing getting out his elderly parents who are in their 70s and have chronic health conditions and mobility issues and no medications or access to medical care. Then prioritizing his siblings and our nieces and nephews.
[Image: Updated images of Mohammed's mother and some of our nieces and nephews as young as 1 and 1/2 years old.]
[Image: Updated images of some of our nieces and nephews as young as 1 and 1/2 years old.]
In summary, funds will go towards:
Urgent needs:
- Immediate basic necessities (i.e. the high cost of limited food, bottled water, medications, warm clothing and blankets for winter months, diapers, feminine hygiene products, shelter supplies, and more).
- High cost of limited items like a bag of flour have gone up to $300-$400, cost of diapers is $96, etc.
Evacuations/ Rebuilding:
- Costs for evacuations and rebuilding their lives when and if they’re permitted to leave and if we’ve raised enough funds.
- Evacuation coordination costs are $5,000 per adult and $2,500 per child.
- It would cost over $100,000 to cover evacuation coordination costs for the entire family.
Family Pharmacy Mutual Aid:
- Family used to have a family-owned pharmacy that was damaged
- Mohammed's sisters are re-opening a pop-up pharmacy to help displaced families get medications that are difficult to find and too expensive for them to afford.
- Medications will depend on what the family can find and will help families suffering from chronic health conditions, illnesses, and pain from injuries.
Distribution of Funds:
- Funds are transferred via bank transfers and accessed via the remaining local ATMs and money traders at this time.
- There's also the GoFundMe transaction fees of 3% per donation
- Please see our "updates" section on GoFundMe for receipts of bank transfers to our family.
Thank you in advance to our larger community of friends, supporters, and strangers for your kindness and bringing some hope and light to our family in a really dark time. The last time we were able to directly communicate with Mohammed’s mother, she was extremely moved and beyond grateful for your support.
Please help us share this fundraiser and our story with our larger community (i.e. share on social media, share with your family & friends).
Please reach out to connect us with any organizers or individuals fundraising for families. We also recently made flyers.
Note: You can also donate via @Olivia-0 on Venm0 (Venm0 picture matches the GoFundme cover art picture)
We are beyond grateful, and anything helps! Funds raised so far have already been extremely lifesaving.
Thank you,
Olivia and Mohammed
Fundraising team (2)
Olivia O
Organizer
Minneapolis, MN
Mohammed A
Team member