Soccer balls to refugee camps
PfP partnered with Little Feet to send over 150 soccer balls to various refugee communities in Lebanon.
News
We Did It!
Susie and Ramzy ran and finished the Philadelphia Marathon on November 23rd in freezing cold weather, raising over $12,000 for a playground for Maysoon’s Kids in Silwad. Ramzy’s time was 4:42 hours and Susie’s was 5:19. They wrote an essay about the experience, which can be accessed here some highlights: Ramzy flew in from Seattle on Friday. He stayed at Linda’s house believing he could avoid susie’s
Three Playgrounds are on their way to Lebanon
Thanks to seed money from Dr Nabil Qaddumi, PfP was able to partner with MECA (Middle East Children’s Alliance) and ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid) to initiate playground projects in Lebanon. On September 30th, three playgrounds will arrive for installation in Ein el Hilweh and Nahr el Bared refugee camps.
Susie and Linda to hold workships at the Sabeel Conference in Philadelphia
PfP Board members susan abulhawa and Linda Hanna will hold two workshops at this years Friends of Sabeel Confernece in Villanova, April 25-26. Sabeel (Arabic for ‘the way’) is a Palestinian liberation theology center in Jerusalem. Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) sponsors a number of regional conferences in the United States and Canada to promote education and advocacy about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Villanova conference features a number of international and nationally known speakers. For more information, please visit http://www.fosna.org/conferences_and_trips/PhiladelphiaConferenceFlyer.htm
Playground installations have begun
PfP is proud to announce that the installation of our two new playgrounds has officially begun. Susan Abulhawa arrived in the West Bank last week and has been scrambling to take care of some unforseen problems before installation can begin. For more information about her trip, go to http://pfp2008trip.blogspot.com/ Board member Sonia Rosen will be arriving in the West Bank at the end of February to continue these installations. Originally, one of these playgrounds was slated to be installed in Silwad, where PfP is partnering with Palestinian-American actor and comedian Maysoon Zayid, who runs arts programs for disabled, wounded, and at-risk refugee children through her non-profit organization Maysoon’s Kids (http://www.maysoon.com/news/maysoons-k ids.shtml). Unfortunately, upon Susan�s arrival we encountered a problem with clearance from Israeli authorities to bring one of the playgrounds from the port to Silwad. A quick decision was made to change the location to Bethlehem. for more information about
Playgrounds Update – March 2008
Dear PfP Supporters – As you all know, susan abulhawa and Sonia Rosen traveled to Palestine at their own expense to install the new playgrounds. Susie was there from Feb 14 until March 1st and Sonia from Feb 29 until March 14. [to read their blogs, go to http://pfp2008trip.blogspot.com and http://soniarosen.blogspot.com. Because we had obtained clearance from the Israelis prior to shipping the equipment, we were surprised to find that they would not release the equipment from the ports for the full time that we were there. However, subsequent to
Nathan Dannison’s Ministry for a Playground in Bethlehem
I am a graduate student in the M.Div. program at Chicago Theological Seminary and I also work as the director of Outreach Ministries for a large, congregationalist church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ever since I became “politically aware” in high school the Isreali / Palestinian conflagration has deeply troubled me. In my adult life I have had an opportunity to spend my graduate career studying and following Jesus of Nazareth, a man from Palestine, who was a healer and proclaimed the justice tradition of
Celebrating Heather and Armen’s wedding by building a playground for Palestine
Instead of gifts, Heather Henyon and Armen Vartanian are asking guests to contribute to PfP in honor of their wedding. http://heatherandarmen.wordpress.com/ The wedding will take place on Sunday 2 September 2007 at the First Congregational Church in Manchester, Vermont, and will be in the Armenian Orthodox tradition. Since Heather and Armen live in Lebanon, they are hoping to spend most of the weekend with their friends and family who they don’t get a chance to see often enough. Asked why they prefer to give to PfP rather than receive
Tommy Lodge Joins the PfP Kid’s Club
Tommy Lodge became the newest member of PfP’s young donors when he donated $150 that he saved from his allowance. Tommy regularly makes such donations to various charities and he chose PfP this time because he has been to Palestine and believes that playgrounds there do make a difference in young lives. We are very grateful to you Tommy! And we hope more children will join you in a spirit of giving.
Anan’s Cooking Class Raises Over $1300!
Anan Zahr, a member of PfP’s Board of Directors, happens to be an amazing cook! On Saturday, August 4th she used her talent and hard work to hold a cooking class at her home, with all proceeds going to PfP. Fourteen people came to the class at a donation of $40 per person. It was a hands-on