This week we are honoring a few of our Solidarity Sustainers.

Through their monthly gifts to UNRWA USA, Sustainers ensure there are reliable, accessible funds available all year round, so we can do the most to support the lives and dignity of Palestine refugees. They are the beating heart of our work — and we’re not just saying that because Valentine’s Day is around the corner. 😉

Meet Arla

Arla, a San Francisco based supporter, first visited Palestine (including time in the Gaza Strip) in December of 1992. She was part of a women’s delegation, organized by the Middle East Children's Alliance. During this trip, they visited various institutions like schools and medical clinics, and it was where she first became aware of UNRWA. Since this formative visit, she has returned multiple times, reinforcing her understanding of UNRWA’s work and impact.

She shared: “In 2002 I returned to Palestine (as I have a number of times since then), and was fortunate to volunteer in a summer camp for children who had experienced trauma under occupation. In 2003, a couple of other women and I went back to the same village to help provide a similar program for teenage girls. Although these were not UNRWA programs, the experience led me to support the work UNRWA does with [refugee] children.”

Beyond her visits and her activism, Arla has shown her dedication to the cause from her home in the Bay Area through participation in UNRWA USA events and as a Solidarity Sustainer. Like many supporters, she was initially brought into the fold through UNRWA USA’s signature event — the Gaza 5K — and participated in the San Francisco event alongside the Jewish Voice for Peace team.

Gaza 5K events raise money for UNRWA’s mental healthcare program in the Gaza Strip, a cause that is very meaningful for Arla. Though she is retired from social work now, she worked for many years in an expressive arts program for homeless and other at-risk children in the San Francisco Bay area and thus is acutely aware of how important mental health services for children who have experienced trauma can be.

She has continued to participate in the Gaza 5K year after year, including the virtual version in 2020. In 2017, due to the raging wildfires in the Bay Area, the 5K wasn’t possible and was transformed into a breakfast/dabke party at the local Arab Cultural Center, as it was unsafe to walk/run outdoors due to extremely poor air quality. “Even though the outdoor event had to be canceled, we still raised lots of funds for psychosocial support for children in Gaza,” Arla recalls.

Eager to support refugees beyond the annual 5K events, Arla upped her charitable giving by becoming a monthly donor (or Solidarity Sustainers as we lovingly call them). For her the decision was an easy one: “I'm painfully aware that the government of the country I live in (USA) has drastically cut UNRWA's funding, when the opportunity arose to become a monthly funder, I enthusiastically signed up. As a US taxpayer, I'm outraged by the funding cut, and feel a responsibility to help out financially to the degree that I am able,” she says.

Arla encourages others to join her as a monthly donor: “Palestine refugees deserve the world's support. They are subjected to oppression and even humiliation on a daily basis. Their continued survival, steadfastness (sumud), and struggle against colonization is admirable, and those of us who are privileged to live freely need to step up in solidarity as staunch allies. Everyone who stands for justice, liberation, self-determination, human rights, and freedom can — and should —care about Palestinian refugees and act on that caring by supporting UNRWA's invaluable work.”

Meet Breana

Breana first heard about UNRWA in her Cultural Studies course at her college. At the time, she was writing a paper about education in the Middle East and stumbled upon the organization. In doing extensive research on UNRWA for her final paper, she learned that over 40% of children in need of education all throughout the Middle East get their education through the Agency — a statistic that stuck with her.

Learning this, she immediately took action and decided to become a Solidarity Sustainer, saying: “I don't have much, but I decided the extra income I did have should go towards the continuation of education for these children. The education I take for granted here isn't provided for all of the Palestine refugee children in the Middle East.”

After giving her presentation to her class, she says she encouraged her classmates and professor to join her in her monthly giving, emphasizing the devastating reality for millions of refugees, especially refugee children:

“After looking into the harsh reality many of these children have to face, I believe everyone and anyone who is able to support their education should. I feel so inspired by these children who risk their lives daily just to go to school. Their stories are incredible and heartbreaking. An education is the least we could do to help them as they grow older.”