Mrs. Najah’s Kitchen: Gaza Emergency Meals
Project Highlights
Mrs. Najah, head of Women Programs Center Rafah, runs an emergency food program that delivers hot meals directly to the homes of the poorest families in Rafah, Gaza.
Mrs. Najah delivering meals
The Women Programs Center
Mrs. Najah Ayash founded the Women Programs Center Rafah in 2002. The UN-affiliated Center is a resource for women and young girls to take training courses, enjoy sports programs, and access legal and psychological counseling. More than a year ago, Mrs. Najah also started this emergency food program to serve vulnerable families one hot meal a day. She targets a different area each time she delivers so she can serve as many families as possible. Right now, she delivers 3 times a week to 600 families total.
“Hot meals delivered to homes make all the difference in this time of distress because we connect, safely and directly, with women and families who are sheltering in place under the direst of circumstances. In the process, we're providing jobs to our all-women chefs assisted by community volunteers at the professional kitchen of the Women Programs Center (WPC).”
-Mrs. Najah
The social media post that won Rebuilding Alliance $500.
Posted on Instagram. Designed by Reed Ghunaim.
(Click to enlarge)
Social Media Wins Rebuilding Alliance Grants
In June 2020, Rebuilding Alliance chose this project to enter into GlobalGiving’s World Refugee Week competition. Out of over 70 organizations, Rebuilding Alliance placed 6th overall and 5th by number of donors. Both these placements earned the project a $2000 grant.
In addition, GlobalGiving also awarded a $500 grant each for Best Email Appeal and Best Social Media Post! GlobalGiving liked that our project page was written in first-person from Mrs. Najah’s perspective, and they liked the lead photo (at the top of this page) of Mrs. Najah in action.
The winning social media post featured a traditional Palestinian recipe. In featuring Palestinian food as the centerpiece of the graphic, the post made a connection between food we can all enjoy and aid deeply needed by the people Mrs. Najah wants to serve with her hot meal program. As stated by GlobalGiving judges, “By sharing a recipe rather than just a caption and image, Rebuilding Alliance invites their audience to actively engage—and gives them a literal taste of their impact.”