🌙 I don’t normally email this late, but we need to move tonight

We have until Tuesday at 7pm Eastern to raise $34,393 and unlock a $10,000 bonus for Gaza’s orphan school.

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good evening from New Jersey.

My friends, I do not normally send emails this late, but tonight is different.

It is after 11pm here in New Jersey, and for Muslims around the world, we are now entering the 9th day of Dhul Hijjah— the Day of Arafah, one of the most sacred days of the entire year. These are days when we are taught to increase in prayer, charity, mercy, sacrifice, and good deeds. For those of you who are not Muslim, I want to explain this plainly: this is one of the most spiritually important moments of the year for nearly 2 billion Muslims, and giving to orphans, the poor, the displaced, and the oppressed carries deep meaning in these days.

And we have a very real deadline in front of us.

Right now, 941 supporters have raised $115,607 to help build a school for young orphaned children in Gaza. That is beautiful, and I am grateful beyond words for every single person who has helped us get here.

But by Tuesday at 7pm Eastern, we need to reach $150,000.

If we do, LaunchGood will give this school project an extra $10,000.

That means we need to raise $34,393 between now and tomorrow evening.

🌙 Donate tonight and help us reach $150,000 by Tuesday at 7pm Eastern

I need us to understand what is on the line. This is not just a leaderboard. This is not just a prize. This is not just a number on a screen. That $10,000 bonus can help pay for real construction, real classrooms, real washrooms, real counselling space, real solar support, real fencing, real desks, real whiteboards, and a real courtyard where orphaned children in Gaza can safely learn and play again.

If we miss the deadline, the project continues, insha’Allah, but we lose money that could have gone directly toward building the school. And I do not want us to lose that money because we hesitated in the final stretch.

We have already raised more than $115,000. We have almost reached 1,000 donors. We are only 59 donors away from that milestone. The campaign is alive. People believe in it. Our team on the ground in Gaza believes we can do this. But now we have to press very, very hard between now and 7pm tomorrow.

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

The 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, play safely, and sit in a classroom with a teacher who knows their name. Instead, many have spent the past two years surrounded by displacement, hunger, fear, grief, and the loss of family.

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 teacher, counselling support, friendship, play, and adults who are invested in their future. For children who have lost almost everything, that kind of stability is not small. It is mercy made real.

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.

And the truth is still the same: the school only gets built if we raise the funds.

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

Here is the math for this final push toward the bonus:

• $34,393 needed by Tuesday at 7pm Eastern to reach $150,000

• 59 more donors needed to reach 1,000 supporters

• $134,393 still needed to fully fund the school

• 344 people giving $100 gets us to the bonus milestone

• 69 people giving $500 gets us there

• 35 people giving $1,000 gets us there

• 7 people giving $5,000 gets us there

Most likely, it will take a mix of all of it. We need the person who can give $5 and refuses to sit this out. We need the person who can give $50 tonight. We need donors who can give $100, $500, or $1,000 before sleeping. And we urgently need people, families, masjids, churches, businesses, and foundations that can give $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, or more to step forward now.

This is one of those moments where a large gift can change the whole direction of the campaign, and a wave of smaller gifts can carry us across the line together.

🕋 Donate during these sacred days and help us unlock the $10,000 bonus

For Muslims, the Day of Arafah is a day of deep worship, humility, repentance, dua, and generosity. Many Muslims fast. Many give charity. Many pour their hearts out to Allah. And I cannot think of a more meaningful way to give in these sacred hours than helping orphaned children in Gaza return to school.

For my non-Muslim friends, you are fully part of this work too. You do not have to share my faith to share this mercy. You do not have to know every detail of Dhul Hijjah to know that orphaned children in Gaza deserve a safe classroom, a teacher, a desk, counselling support, and a future.

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 emailing late because the deadline is real. I am asking again because the children are worth it. I am pressing hard because our team in Gaza is counting on us, and because $10,000 is too much money for this school to leave on the table.

We have until Tuesday at 7pm Eastern.

We need $34,393.

And by Allah’s mercy, with enough of us moving tonight and tomorrow, we can do this.

🏗️ Please give now and help us reach $150,000 for Gaza’s orphan school

After you give, please forward this email to 3 people immediately. Tell them we are entering the 9th day of Dhul Hijjah, we have until Tuesday at 7pm Eastern, and we need $34,393 to unlock a $10,000 bonus for a real school for orphaned children in Gaza.

I know it is late.

But this is the moment to move.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun