Friends & Family,
On Sept 18-21, I will be biking 360km with 30+ cyclists from Philadelphia to Washington DC as part of the cycling 4 Gaza initiative. This effort was founded by a group of concerned young people in the wake of the 2009 war on Gaza, with a mission to raise awareness about the ongoing blockade on the Gaza Strip and raise critical funds for organisations that work to support areas encompassing education and healthcare for Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees.
In 2013, the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund launched the REACH (Reaching Every Affected Child in Gaza) Gaza Project in partnership with Cycling4Gaza. The long-term aim of the REACH project is to support every child in need of serious medical care in the Gaza Strip. Last year they raised $220k+ and are aiming to raise $250k this year.
I just got word on Aug 23 that I'm moving from the waiting list to becoming a participant. I have >3 weeks to train, but am confident that with your support, sitting on a bike saddle for 10hrs a day, for 3 days straight, won't be in vain. Gaza needs us now, more than ever, and you can show your support by making donations to the below ... Every penny counts
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 |
| Naz Askari | 09/21/2014 | $100.00 | Well Done :) | WAEL JABI | 09/20/2014 | $500.00 | You are going to finish it comfortably because of the sexy bike seat we bought. | Sameer Gorule | 09/20/2014 | $100.00 | Rami Qasem | 09/20/2014 | $1,000.00 | Neshat Amirfathi | 09/18/2014 | $500.00 | I am so proud of you! You have a beautiful heart and what you are going to do great tomorrow, not so sure about the rest of the days ;) | Ahmed Sakalla | 09/17/2014 | $200.00 | Maria DiPietro | 09/16/2014 | $200.00 | Tarek, good luck with the event. Best Maria | Ahmad Abdelhadi | 09/16/2014 | $250.00 | Abdul Sami Tariq | 09/15/2014 | $500.00 | Great cause man. Hope the conditions of these children can be improved. Best of luck! | Aamna Blakey | 09/14/2014 | $80.00 | Good luck! | Sarah Sampson | 09/13/2014 | $100.00 | Solidarity | Mervet Astarabadi | 09/13/2014 | $200.00 | Masha Allah, I am always so proud of you habibi Tarek <3 <3 | Derya Deniz-Alfares | 09/12/2014 | $300.00 | Hi Tarek, I got to know about this through Nesrine, what an amazing initiative mashallah! Wishing you all the strength and patience, and I'm sure the 360km will be a walk in the park :-) | Issam Hassan | 09/12/2014 | $300.00 | Good luck .. great initiative | Pooneh Aminian | 09/11/2014 | $50.00 | Anonymous Friend | 09/11/2014 | $350.00 | Zeid Harb | 09/11/2014 | $50.00 | Richard Al Naddaf | 09/10/2014 | $150.00 | All the best Tarek. | Rhamey Elhosseiny | 09/09/2014 | $150.00 | Best of Luck, Tarek! Great cause | Ahmed Qasem | 09/09/2014 | $500.00 | Even though we barely made it through in the Bahrain Marathon, but i must say we are proud of you and happy for the kids in Gaza. ride safe and hydrate | Rabih Yazbeck | 09/08/2014 | $200.00 | Good luck | Anonymous Friend | 09/07/2014 | $200.00 | God speed! | Anonymous Friend | 09/07/2014 | $150.00 | Best of luck Tarek! Great initiative... | Tarek Jabi | 09/07/2014 | $100.00 | Keep on pushing | Nabil & Annette Habayeb | 09/06/2014 | $200.00 | Great effort Tarek. My son Ziad and Daughter Serene are also cycling the same event. A great cause. Take care of each other. | Ayman Darwich | 09/06/2014 | $1,000.00 | El Sayad Hashem | 09/05/2014 | $100.00 | Varun Khemaney | 09/03/2014 | $200.00 | Good luck bro, you're going to need it (I think you should squeeze a little more out of Anis) | Wael Habibi | 09/03/2014 | $200.00 | Talal Bayaa | 09/03/2014 | $201.00 | I hope you're not going to use Uber. Good luck. | Talal Bayaa | 09/03/2014 | $5.00 | Brian Habibi | 09/03/2014 | $200.00 | Nesrine Jebali | 09/03/2014 | $200.00 | This is amazing!! Happy to donate and leave the biking to you lol Good luck Tarek!! :) | Ahmad Bayaa | 09/02/2014 | $300.00 | Great effort! The children of Gaza will thank you for this deed. | Ziad Bayaa | 09/02/2014 | $500.00 | May we all be free and able to access Gaza SOON on bikes, boats, planes, horses and on feet Love you | Anonymous Friend | 09/01/2014 | $50.00 | Anonymous Friend | 09/01/2014 | $80.00 | You need some serious warm up before that. Good luck ! | Tarek Bayaa | 08/31/2014 | $840.00 | Malak Benyakhlef | 08/31/2014 | $200.00 | Meera Baya'a | 08/31/2014 | $150.00 | I'm extremely proud of you, broski. You're a solid role model with your selfless and charitable work, and I hope to make as much of a difference as you do. As for all that biking, I'll be praying for you... KICK SOME BUTT, I love you! | Khaled Naim | 08/31/2014 | $100.00 | don't let us down | Anis Harb | 08/31/2014 | $30.00 | Tarek Jabi | 08/31/2014 | $100.00 | Please reach out to the Jabis in order to help you gear up for this ... all they do is bike. All the best, proud of you and your work you constantly do to raise awareness for those in Gaza. Paix, TJ |
| Total | $10,886.00 | ||