Cruelty Free Meals for North Gaza

Machteld Cornets de Groot is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

A few months ago, four friends, Abood, Amjad, Mahmoud and Walid, decided to provide relief to their community. They started the Cruelty Free Meals for North Gaza kitchen. It became a huge success, thanks to your donations.

Cruelty Free Meals for North Gaza

To keep this kitchen running and available for many, they urgently need a steady stream of financial support. This is all because of the lack of food, which causes exorbitant prices for food in the black market of North Gaza. This is where you can make a difference. By supporting our fundraiser, you are fighting famine with an all Palestinian team!

Until the siege of North Gaza, this team partnered with the World Central Kitchen. The partnership ended because the World Central Kitchen can't send extra ingredients, since all aid is kept out of the north.

The breakdown of costs

Walid sent me a breakdown of the costs in September. The kitchen uses lists that consist of all the things needed to prepare the meals and to distribute the meals to the shelters. They have a summary for each meal they are able to prepare with the products still available in North Gaza. I will paste it below.

Remember, these prices are not fixed and likely to go up. A list used to be enough for all visitors for 2 weeks, but the amount of refugees pouring in lately makes the lists too optimistic - these days they often need more.

Cost of Rice Meal

Long grain rice / 20 kg / €185

Vegetable spices / 0.5 kg / €18.50

Black pepper / 0.25 kg / €9

Table salt / 1 kg / €18.50

Yellow rice seasoning / 0.5 kg / €20

Firewood / 30 kg / €41.50

Vegetable oil / 3 kg / €138.50

Ghee / 0.5 kg / €28

Chickpeas / 2 kg / €46

Garlic / 0.5 kg / €185

Cost to cook / €92

Cost to transport / €92

TOTAL COST €874

Cost of Lentil Meal

Lentils / 20 kg / €111

Vegetable spices / 0.5 kg / €18.50

Black pepper / 0.25 kg / €9

Table salt / 1 kg / €18.50

Cumin 0.25 kg / €20

Firewood / 30 kg / €41.50

Vegetable oil / 1 kg / €46

Cost to cook / €92

Cost to transport / €92

TOTAL COST €448

Cost of Rice and Soybean Soup Meal

Rice with soybeans, carrots, and potato / 13 kg / €332

Vegetable spices / 0.5 kg / €18.50

Black pepper / 0.25 kg / €9

Table salt / 1 kg / €18.50

Firewood / 30 kg / €41.50

Cost to cook / €92

Cost to transport / €92

TOTAL COST USD €603.50

Cost of Green Peas Meal

Green peas / 20 kg / €185

Vegetable spices / 0.5 kg / €18.50

Black pepper / 0.25 kg / €9

Table salt / 1 kg / €18.50

Tomato paste / 5 kg / €138.50

Firewood / 30 kg / €41.50

Vegetable oil / 1 kg / €46

Cost to cook / €92

Cost to transport / €92

TOTAL COST €641

Cost of Butter Beans Meal

Butter beans / 20 kg / €185

Vegetable spices / 0.5 kg / €18.50

Black pepper / 0.25 kg / €9

Table salt / 1 kg / €18.50

Tomato paste / 5 kg / €138.50

Firewood / 30 kg / €41.50

Vegetable oil / 1 kg / €46

Cost to cook / €92

Cost to transport / €92

TOTAL COST €641

Cost of Pasta Meal

Pasta / 20 kg / €185

Vegetable spices / 0.5 kg / €18.50

Black pepper / 0.25 kg / €9

Table salt / 1 kg / €18.50

Tomato paste / 5 kg / €138.50

Firewood / 30 kg / €41.50

Vegetable oil / 1 kg / €46

Cost to cook / €92

Cost to transport / €92

TOTAL COST €641

More numbers

Operating the kitchen weekly costs the team about €8000 per month, which includes materials, the team's wages and transfer fees paid in Gaza. Raising an additional €64,000 will allow us to operate the kitchen and feed 500 to 1000 people every week for an estimated 8 additional months, up until June 2025.

Additional bank fees and GFM fees are not included in the calculation since I am covering them out of pocket, and can continue to do so. This means donations, both small and large, go a longer way.

The kitchen has 3 cooks who get paid €25 a day and 2 kitchen staff members who get paid €12 a day.
At the moment, it costs the kitchen about €1850 for a week’s worth of food.
Right now, at the end of October, after an influx of refugees from Jabalya, 800 people in the neighborhood get fed daily and another 500 in shelters where food is distributed.

Please know that the details are subject to change because of the rising number of visitors and the rising prices.

If the kitchen in North Gaza were to stop operating, the remaining proceeds would go to Mo in Central Gaza, to fund his bakery and water distribution in Deir al Balah.

Water and bread for displaced people in central Gaza

There is another project within this fundraiser. Walid's cousin Mo wants to contribute to his community in a similar fashion. He has been displaced many times and is now surviving in a tent camp in Deir al Balah in Central Gaza.

Mo distributes much needed clean water and fresh bread to displaced people in his tent camp.

How your donations will be used

Your donations will enable Abood, Amjad, Mahmoud and Walid to purchase essential supplies such as food, beverages, spices, utensils, and containers for distribution. It will help Mo to give clean water in central Gaza, and to keep his bakery running. Together, we can provide meals and water and bread for hundreds of people for as long as it takes, offering hope in the midst of adversity.

Please help these friends to keep Cruelty Free Meals for North Gaza running. And let's make it possible for Mo to help people in the tent camp in Deir al-Balah get much needed clean water and fresh bread. Together we can alleviate hunger and thirst and prevent further suffering for so many people. Donate today and help fight famine.

Information for Palestinians in Gaza | معلومات للفلسطينيين في غزة

English translation below

أهلنا الأعزاء في شمال غزة، نأمل أن تجدوا رسالتنا لأنكم مرحب بكم جميعًا في مطبخنا! عندما نقدم طعامنا، سيكون في حي الدرج. هل تحتاج إلى تجنب المواد المسببة للحساسية الغذائية؟ سوف نتأكد من إخبارك بجميع المكونات التي نستخدمها في كل وجبة نقدمها. نأمل أن تستمتع به!

Dear people in north Gaza, we hope you find our message because you are all welcome to our kitchen! When we serve our food, it will be in the Daraj neighbourhood. Do you need to avoid food allergens? We will make sure to let you know all the ingredients we use in every meal we serve. We hope you enjoy it!

The fundraiser people

I am writing to you from Gouda, a lovely town in the Netherlands. My name is Machteld Cornets de Groot and I am supposed to let you know this according to GoFundMe. It isn’t of any relevance, as this is about Abood, Amjad, Mahmoud, Mo and Walid. The fact that I am from Holland does mean the fundraiser donations are in euros. Another reason is that Palestinians can't start a fundraiser here.