Dear Friends,
The war in Syria is relentless and each day the news provides new grim details of extensive suffering. The Sunday New York Times, for example, details the heart- wrenching story of one million Syrian refugee children in Turkey laboring in squalid factories to support their families.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and depressed by the scale of this catastrophe, but there are ways to help on a local level.
There are 25 Syrian refugee children in Elizabeth who arrived in the U.S. within the past year. All of these children experienced severe deprivation and interruption of their childhoods—missing years of schooling and the joys and security of home, friends, family and most essentially, uninterrupted play.
We are an interfaith group organizing a simple campaign to send 17 of these eligible children to day camp at the Elizabeth YMCA for 2 weeks this summer. There they will have an opportunity to play, improve their English, swim and enjoy several field trips.
While the YMCA has offered a very generous subsidy, we need to fundraise the balance. Would you consider sending a child to camp for this summer? A donation of $100 would allow one child to attend the YMCA for one week.
Please consider contributing to our campaign to help welcome these children to a new, better life in the U.S. While as individuals we can’t do much to halt a terrible war far away, on a local level we can help restore the smallest piece of childhood to children who have already lost so much. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Sincerely,
Kate McCaffrey, Congregation Bnai Keshet
Carole Schwartz, Temple Bnai Abraham
Khalid Bendriss, Al Andalus Foundation
Click her to contribute Online through Paypal
Or send a check made out to the Elizabeth Branch YMCA and mail it to Kate McCaffrey, 22 Mountainview Ter, Maplewood NJ 07040.
