10 Years of Play, “Writing on The Wall”, and more

    April 2011 Celebrating 10 Years of Play On Saturday, May 21st, Playgrounds for Palestine will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary.   We have several wonderful surprises to unveil and we sincerely hope you will join us for this special ocassion. The evening entertainment will feature Spoken Word Poet Remi Kanazi and renowned Dabke Troupe, Faris el Layl. We will bring you messages from the children whose lives you have touched so profoundly over the years. As always, you’ll find delicious Arabic food, good friends, and a meaningful and fun way to spend your evening. It’s a family event, of course.  For more information or to purchase tickets, click here. …

Save the Date!

       …helping children reclaim their childhoods February 2011    Save The Date! Saturday May 21, 2011 – Celebrating A Decade Of Play Our annual gala this years will be a very special one.   On Saturday May 21st, 2011 Playgrounds for Palestine will celebrate its 10th year anniversary.  In honor of a decade of bringing play and smiles to Palestinian children, we plan to build ten more playgrounds.   Ten playgrounds for ten years.   Playgrounds for Palestine is a nonprofit registered 501(c)3 organization that operates with an all volunteer staff, minimal overhead, your generosity, and a …

From PfP, with Love

       . . . helping children reclaim their childhoods September 2010    PfP builds its 3rd playground in Gaza for children with Down’s Syndrome Playgrounds for Palestine, in cooperation with ANERA in Gaza, was able to build a playground at the Right to Live Society in eastern Gaza in July 2010. The playground was built using recycled materials, local labor, local manufacturers, and the special local determination and steadfastness.    The site of our newest playground is The Right to Live School, which serves Gazan boys and …

Special Thanks for Special People

Playgrounds for Palestine would like to extend special gratitude to the following individuals: Lowell Hartzell because over the years he has always made himself available to train PfP members on installation of playground equipment. For our most recent trip, Lowell spent at least 9 hours making calculations and instructing new board members on installation of our new playgrounds Mariam Rajab and her friends in Ottowa, a group of 7 seven women …

Huge thanks to Mount of Olives, University of Montana

Mount of Olives Arabic Language and Culture club is a student group from the University of Montana located in Missoula, Montana. The club aims at promoting cross-cultural understanding through language and culture on the University of Montana campus and in the Missoula community. Over the last few months, Mount of Olives has been working hard to fundraise for Playgrounds in Palestine. They have held various fundraisers, which have included a raffle, selling Middle Eastern Food, Photographs, Buttons and other items at the local International Cultural Festival held on the University of Montana campus and through collecting donations. The raffle raised over three hundred dollars and included prizes donated from local community members such as cooking lessons from Restaurateur and local renowned chef Ray Risho, Middle Eastern dance classes from Aniysa, hummus from Samir Bitar and a gift certificate to The Silk Road a locally owned restaurant. The …

Julia Gambell donates her birthday money!

Instead of asking for gifts on her 10th birthday, Julia Gambell of Yardley, PA, asked her guest to make a charitable donation. After a great slumber party on April 21st, Julia collected $100 in birthday money, which she decided to give to PfP. When asked why she decided to donate her birthday money, and why she picked PfP, Julia had this to say: “I picked PfP because for one thing, it must be so …

A letter from Jenin

“…..that letter made my day ……It is worth all the efforts that we did at the fund raising party, and makes me feel that we need to do more so we can help more and more of our children.” Palestinian Liberation Organization Refugees Affairs Department Popular Committee of Services Jenin Camp Acknowledgment Honorable, Playgrounds for Palestine In co-ordination with ANERA Popular Committee of Services – Jenin refugee camp is honored to present our deepest thanks and gratitude to Playgrounds for Palestine for the financing of the children play ground in the Jenin refugee camp, which was carried out …

From Karen Kovalcik on Palestine and her annual olive oil party

When my dear friend and founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, Susan Abulhawa, asked me to write an article for the newsletter, I was certainly honored. Now that I am completing this task at the eleventh hour, I guess I underestimated the thought and emotion that would swell in me as I attempted to explain my motivation and actions for this charity. The Palestinian people have absolutely grabbed my attention as I have attempted to seek out the truth and broaden my view of justice in our world today. The more I learned, the more dialogues that began with my friends and family, and the more I saw from documentaries produced from around the world, I had no choice other than to decide there’s something I must do. As a small singular voice can rouse many, …

Reminder! Saturday April 3rd!

Newsletter . . . helping children reclaim their childhoods March 14, 2010  SAVE THE DATE!  PfP’s Annual Fundraiser Dinner on April 3rd!  It’s that time of the year again when all of us gather in one place to share an evening of  community, good food, LAUGHTER, good entertainment, and, best of all, the affirmation of our commitment to uphold the Right to Play for children in Palestine and refugee camps  elsewhere. This year, we will be returning to the University of Pennsylvania’s Hall of Flags in Houston Hall, and we hope you …

CALL TO ACTION

  . . . helping children reclaim their childhoods  February 27, 2010 We are sending out this CALL TO ACTION to alert our supporters about a troubling development in the Oush Grab Peace Park, the site designated for a 2010 PfP playground installation. The Israeli military is trying to implement a decision to confiscate community and privately held property belonging to the community and families in the Palestinian Christian town of Beit Sahour. Included in this swath of land is the treasured Peace Park, which serves as a community space, park and recreational facility where Palestinian families gather daily and …

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Phoenix Elementary in Gaza

We are excited to announce the launch of an initiative we’ve been working on for a while. PfP established a school in Gaza for grades 1-5. We’re in our third week now of operation and it’s amazing. The school is a mixture of traditional and non-traditional learning. The first few days were focused on getting to know each other, consulting with children about what they want to get out of the school, how they want to decorate the space, and assessing their skills and abilities. It was decided to name the school: Phoenix Elementary. مدرسةالعنقاء As you can see, the kids were over the moon to be in a classroom after their lives were turned upside down. Grades 1-4 are focused on Arabic, English, math,

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“After the ‘Cast lead’ attack on Gaza, PfP shared a video of the kids finally able to go outside where there still stood a (PfP) playground.  It still brings tears to think about the joy of those kids swarming the playground…  It really brought home the great work PfP does. “