In mid September, I will be taking part in the 6th annual Cycling4Gaza event (cycling4gaza.com). This year we will be cycling over 300km from Philadelphia to Washington DC over the course of 3 days. While training for the ride, I am also aiming to raise $2,500 to support the REACH Gaza (Reaching Every Affected Child in Gaza) project through the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF). PCRF is a non-political, non-profit organization dedicated to healing the wounds of war, occupation and poverty for children in the Middle East, regardless of their nationality, religion, race or gender. More information about REACH Gaza is below.
REACH Gaza – The 2014 Project Second Year Running
REACH Gaza aims to improve and strengthen the currently underdeveloped health-care system in Gaza, particularly when it comes to providing surgery for children in need of medical care. In addition to causing a chronic shortage of medical equipment and supplies in Gaza, the 6 year long siege on the Gaza Strip has prevented children and their families from travelling freely into the West Bank and abroad in order to receive the urgent care and treatment they need.
The REACH Gaza project will address each of these issues and work towards creating a more durable, efficient and sustainable healthcare system by carrying out the following tasks:
- Identifying every sick and injured child in the besieged Gaza Strip in need of specialised medical care through a team of ground staff who will form an intricate network of field offices throughout Gaza
- Creating a pioneering centralised database that will include each child’s medical condition and history
- Providing each child with the required treatment through sponsoring treatment locally, visiting international volunteer missions and sending children abroad for care.
$250,000 (£150,000) was raised in 2013 in support of the REACH Gaza project. 53% of these funds directly resulted in:
- The treatment of 630 children in Gaza
- Through the work of 18 volunteer international medical teams
- Caring for children in need of cardiac, orthopaedic and general medical treatment
The funds also allowed for the development of the first medical database in Gaza with 496 child cases registered.
The remaining funds from 2013 will be used to continue providing essential medical treatment to the children in Gaza, in addition to all the funds raised in 2014 from our 6th cycling challenge taking place in the US from Philadelphia to Washington DC on the 19th of September. With these two cycles we aim to support the REACH Gaza project up to the end of 2015; caring for over 1000 children in Gaza.
| Supporters | |||
| Name | Date | Amount | Comments |
| Vanessa Schwartz | 09/18/2014 | $25.00 | Good luck Aboudi! Ride Safely! | Liz Yee | 09/18/2014 | $10.00 | Good luck Aboudi! | Willard Mangrum | 09/18/2014 | $50.00 | Best wishes........Atttttttack the hilllllll..............and carb upppppp....... | Nour Kteily | 09/17/2014 | $95.00 | Good luck dude | Angie Williams | 09/16/2014 | $20.00 | good luck booty! | Keith Arky | 09/16/2014 | $20.00 | No child deserves to endure war. Hopefully this helps those in need. | Kiki Kim-Deutchman | 09/15/2014 | $75.00 | Go get it Aboudi! From three of us xoxo | Betcy Vincent | 09/12/2014 | $50.00 | Good luck, safe ride! | Anonymous Friend | 09/11/2014 | $100.00 | Go Aboudi! | Mahboud Nobakht | 09/10/2014 | $25.00 | Best of luck! | James Brinson | 09/09/2014 | $25.00 | Good luck! | Valerie Papachristos | 09/09/2014 | $10.00 | John Montemayor | 09/09/2014 | $20.00 | Good Luck Sir! | Valerie Papachristos | 09/09/2014 | $10.00 | Suzi Rasmussen | 09/09/2014 | $10.00 | Way to go Aboudi! | Katie Karp | 09/08/2014 | $30.00 | Alex Moss | 09/08/2014 | $25.00 | Erick Rodriguez | 09/05/2014 | $20.00 | Safe ride brotha!! | Bryan Young | 09/05/2014 | $100.00 | Have a great ride!! | Aboudi Kabbani | 09/05/2014 | $50.00 | Francis Silagon | 09/05/2014 | $50.00 | Thanks for doing this.. Good luck brother! | Lee Moretz | 09/04/2014 | $100.00 | Good luck! | Gigi Luu | 09/04/2014 | $25.00 | Cesar Beltran | 09/04/2014 | $25.00 | Ann Pak | 09/02/2014 | $30.00 | What a great cause Aboudi! | Steve Lin | 09/02/2014 | $25.00 | Good luck on the ride buddy | Tanya Bohorquez | 08/29/2014 | $50.00 | This is a wonderful thing to do :) | Michael Harvey | 08/26/2014 | $100.00 | Gaby G | 08/25/2014 | $30.00 | Good luck, Aboudi! | Gaby G | 08/25/2014 | $5.00 | Good luck! | Omar Popal | 08/25/2014 | $250.00 | Keep on Keeping on! | Sara Choi | 08/21/2014 | $50.00 | good luck! | Aboudi Kabbani | 08/19/2014 | $25.00 | R G | 08/19/2014 | $100.00 | go get it!!! | Letha Prestbo | 08/18/2014 | $50.00 | Good luck, Aboudi! | Sami Bashour | 08/15/2014 | $50.00 | Good luck! | Susan Rahman | 08/05/2014 | $50.00 | Thank you for doing this. Inshallah Gaza will be free! | Anonymous Friend | 08/05/2014 | $20.00 | Have fun boudi!!! | Anonymous Friend | 08/05/2014 | $20.00 | Nicholas Di Masi | 08/05/2014 | $5.00 | El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido | Liz Barnett | 08/05/2014 | $30.00 | Jose Macias | 08/02/2014 | $30.00 | Charlotte B | 07/31/2014 | $25.00 | Coleman Griffith | 07/31/2014 | $100.00 | Stay strong | Amanda Kennedy | 07/30/2014 | $20.00 | Aboudi this is amazing!!! I am trying to donate a little to each of you cycling!!! Good luck!!! | Maha Khani | 07/30/2014 | $100.00 | Paul Ingram | 07/29/2014 | $100.00 | Faris Al Talhouni | 07/29/2014 | $250.00 | Good job bro! God bless. | Nada Halawi | 07/28/2014 | $100.00 |
| Total | $2,585.00 | ||