🤲🏽 88 more donors gets us to 1,000 donors. $36,716 gets our school for orphans a $10,000 bonus from LaunchGood!

We are close, but the deadline is real. Help us build this school for Gaza’s orphaned children.

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good morning from Baltimore!

My friends, it is Monday morning here in the United States. It is Memorial Day, a day when this country pauses to remember loss, sacrifice, family, grief, and the cost of war.

And I cannot help but think about the children in Gaza.

I cannot help but think about orphaned children who have lost parents, homes, schools, routines, safety, and the ordinary childhood every child should have been allowed to enjoy. I cannot help but think about the children who should be learning to read and write, who should be laughing in a courtyard, who should be sitting with a teacher who knows their name, but instead have spent more than two years surrounded by displacement, hunger, fear, grief, and rubble.

Today, we have a real chance to do something concrete for them.

As of this morning, 912 supporters have raised $113,284 to help us build a school for orphaned children in Gaza. That is a huge blessing, and I am deeply grateful to every single person who has given, shared, prayed, forwarded, and helped carry this campaign.

But now we are facing a hard deadline.

We have until Tuesday at 7pm Eastern to reach $150,000.

If we get there, LaunchGood will add $10,000 to this project.

That means we need $36,716 by tomorrow night.

🏫 Donate now and help us reach $150,000 by Tuesday at 7pm Eastern

I want to be honest with you. This is a difficult push, but it is absolutely possible. We are already at $113,284. We are just 88 donors away from crossing 1,000 supporters. And we are almost halfway to fully funding the school.

That means this campaign is not stuck. It is moving. People believe in it. People are giving. People are responding. Our team on the ground in Gaza sees the progress, and they believe this school can be built.

Now we have to prove them right.

The $10,000 LaunchGood bonus matters because it is not just a number. It is construction support. It is money that helps move us closer to classrooms, washrooms, counselling space, solar support, secure fencing, desks, whiteboards, and a safe outdoor play area for children who desperately need a place to learn and heal.

If we miss this deadline, we do not just miss a prize. We lose money that could have helped build the school.

And I do not want us to lose it.

🤲🏽 Give your Zakat, sadaqah, or tax-deductible donation today

For Muslims, we are still in the sacred days of Dhul Hijjah, the days leading into Eid al-Adha. These are days of worship, sacrifice, mercy, charity, and good deeds. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught that righteous deeds in these days are especially beloved to Allah.

For my non-Muslim friends, I want to say this plainly: this is one of the most spiritually meaningful times of the year for nearly 2 billion Muslims, and giving to orphans, the displaced, the poor, and the oppressed carries deep meaning in these days.

But you do not have to be Muslim to understand this project.

A child does not need to share your faith to deserve a classroom.

A child does not need to speak your language to deserve safety.

A child does not need to live in your neighborhood to deserve a future.

This school is being designed for orphaned children in Gaza ages 5–9, serving Grades 1, 2, and 3. These are children who should be learning how to read, write, count, study Qur’an, ask questions, make friends, and sit safely in a classroom with a teacher who knows their name.

A school will not erase everything they have endured, but it can give them structure again. It can give them a morning routine, a desk, a whiteboard, a courtyard, counselling support, play, friendship, and adults who are invested in their future. For children who have lost almost everything, that kind of stability is not small. It is a mercy made real.

📚 Help us turn this school from a plan into a real place for Gaza’s orphans

The proposed school includes 6 fully equipped classrooms with space for approximately 270 children, around 45 students per classroom. It includes 6 washrooms, each with its own separate exterior entrance, an administrative office, a teachers’ room, a dedicated counsellor’s space, solar power support, electrical infrastructure, secure perimeter fencing, and an outdoor artificial grass play area.

Here is what we need right now:

• $36,716 by Tuesday at 7pm Eastern to reach $150,000 and unlock the $10,000 LaunchGood bonus

• 88 more donors to cross 1,000 supporters

• $136,716 more to fully fund the school

• If 1,088 more donors give, bringing us to 2,000 total donors, the average gift needed to fully fund the project is about $126

That means this can be done with major donors, small donors, and everyone in between. We need the person who can give $5 and refuses to sit this out. We need the person who can give $50 during these sacred days. We need the donor who can give $126 and help us reach the average we need from the next wave of supporters. We need families who can give $500 or $1,000. And we urgently need people, masjids, churches, businesses, families, and foundations that can give $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, or $100,000 to step forward now.

This is the moment where large gifts can change the entire campaign.

And small gifts can still carry us across the line.

🇵🇸 Donate now through the verified LaunchGood campaign

This project is organized by Human Concern International. It is LaunchGood verified, tax-deductible, and for Muslims it is Zakat eligible.

And I want to be clear, as always: I am a full-time employee of Human Concern International and have been for more than 2 years. I do not receive fees or personal compensation from this fundraiser.

Not a penny.

I am pushing because the children are worth it. I am pushing because the team in Gaza is counting on us. I am pushing because this school is no longer just an idea. It is a real plan, with real people preparing to serve real children, and the only thing standing between the plan and the construction is whether we raise the funds.

Good intentions alone will not build the classrooms.

Love alone will not install the washrooms.

Concern alone will not create the counselling space.

We have to fund it.

And if we reach $150,000 by tomorrow night, LaunchGood adds $10,000 to help us do exactly that.

🏗️ Please give now and help us unlock the $10,000 bonus for Gaza’s orphan school

After you give, please forward this email to 3 people who care about Gaza, children, education, mercy, and justice. Tell them we have until Tuesday at 7pm Eastern to raise $36,716 and unlock a $10,000 bonus for a real school for orphaned children in Gaza.

We are close.

We are moving.

And with Allah’s help, we are going to build this school.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun