The top 2 food providers in Gaza pulled out yesterday. Here's my best attempt at helping!
All we can do is try! Love and appreciate your support!
Hello My Friend,
The past 48 hours have been 2 of the worst days in Gaza of this entire genocide. And after the United States and Israel slaughtered 7 aid workers from the World Central Kitchen, both the World Central Kitchen - which was providing 200,000 hot meals per day, and Anera, which was the second largest meal provider in Gaza, announced that they are pulling out of Gaza, and suspending all operations.
No doubt, this was the goal of Israel in the first place. From the start of this genocide they have done everything they can to starve the people and this accomplishes that goal.
Please click here to give today!
Your donation is 100% tax deductible, goes to one of the most reputable charities in the space, and will be put to use on the ground in Gaza right away.
World Central Kitchen was actually my motivation for starting this project in the first place, but I never imagined anything would happen that would cause them to pull out of Gaza. With only a week left in Ramadan, my plan was for us to feed people for these 30 days, then pass the baton back to groups that I thought would be on the ground for the long haul, but that clearly is not possible right now.
Our community kitchens in Gaza are 100% staffed by local Palestinians. Our program manager is Palestinian. Our global director is Palestinian. They couldn’t leave if they wanted to. So we are forging ahead - but we truly cannot do it without you.
24,730 generous donors have given at this link so far. But my new goal is to get us to 50,000 donors. Honestly, even that won’t be enough, but it is far enough away to motivate me to keep pushing forward.
Last year, the World Central Kitchen raised and spent over $500 million dollars. That’s how they were able to do what they were doing. So far we’ve raised $2 million. See the difference? We are only scratching the surface here.
As usual, I am rushing to get my kids ready for school before a very busy day.
I am sorry that I am putting so much pressure on you all, but I don’t know any other way. I love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Good evening,
998 of you have donated today to help expand our hot meals project in Gaza and I am SO grateful to each of you. We’ve raised nearly $100,000 today and I’m having to do this without my Instagram account that was really the central nervous system of my fundraising for the past 10 years.
I was going to say that we need to double that, but the honest truth is that we need all of you to donate. The need on the ground is so big that I truly need every person reading this to chip in with the others. I am sorry to press so hard - and I wouldn’t do so unless it was necessary.
Please donate here today and join them.
We are going to have to scale up everything we are doing now that the single largest provider of meals just pulled out of Gaza. It is going to have a devastating impact right away.
Can you please donate tonight?
Here is our team on the ground distributing food just yesterday.
Love and appreciate you all,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Good Morning from Brooklyn,
I am literally late driving my kids to school so that I can send you this message. Forgive any typos or errors - I don’t have time to proofread this morning.
I come to you this morning with grave news and a very urgent announcement. Please promise me you will read everything I say here. It’s the most important email I’ve ever sent in my life.
GRAVE NEWS
Yesterday, Israel and the United States did something that I can hardly imagine - they deliberately dropped a bomb on a clearly identified car of staff from the internationally award winning charity World Central Kitchen and killed every single person inside - from the Palestinian driver to the European and Australian staff of World Central Kitchen, and anybody that was even near them.
I absolutely adore the team from World Central Kitchen. My wife and I are monthly donors to the organization. And their work in Gaza was my inspiration to start my own Ramadan Hot Meal Program in Gaza.
Moments ago, World Central Kitchen, which fed more people in Gaza than any other single charity - over 200,000 people per day on some days, just announced that they are suspending their operations. They also announced that they had given the Israeli military their locations, were in a zone that was supposed to be “bomb-free” and they were slaughtered anyway.
It is the belief of experts on the ground that Israel bombed them SO THAT WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN WOULD LEAVE GAZA. They want to starve the people to death and WCK was feeding 10% of the country per day. Israel grew to hate this and hate them and they killed them for it. And the United States provided the bombs and jets and drones they used to do it. These are clear war crimes.
I want you to imagine for a moment that Palestinians or Muslims slaughtered staff from World Central Kitchen. It would not only be the #1 news story in the world, we’d never hear the end of it - and for good reason. Entire TV specials would be dedicated to those that were killed. Instead, this morning I can hardly even find the news. Israel and the United States are the single least accountable nations on this planet.
URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT
After a staggering 22,831 of you donated $2,135,284 for my Ramadan Meals Program in Gaza, I felt like I had raised enough money for the program and could pivot and raise money for a health clinic in Gaza. I will still need to raise funds to support the clinic, but suddenly the need for our charity partner in Gaza, Human Concern International, to provide meals has just skyrocketed.
I am begging you, from the bottom of my heart, to please donate more today. If you have already donated, can you please donate again? If you have not donated, can you please donate immediately?
Your donations are 100% tax deductible. The funds go directly to the charity and will be used to purchase more food, hire more staff, start more emergency community kitchens, and provide more hot meals to families and people in need.
You can give right here, OK? To explain how critical the need is, World Central Kitchen was spending millions of dollars PER DAY to provide the meals they were cooking for people. PER DAY! That’s what I hoped to have last for the entire month of Ramadan.
This meal program is not just for Muslims. But if you are a Muslim, please know that your donation is Zakat-certified by scholars at LaunchGood. And that Allah blesses us beyond measure when we donate during the final 10 days of Ramadan.
I have to run! I am late taking my kids to school.
Your friend and brother.
Love and appreciate you all,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Hello My Friends,
WOW! Since yesterday, over 3,000 of you chipped in to support our Ramadan meal program in Gaza. We’ve now opened up 4 community kitchens and are providing tens of thousands of meals PER DAY. You can learn all about it and chip in HERE.
I want to address a few very important questions and provide very clear answers.
100% of your donation goes to the charity and the charity alone. Even the crowdfunding platform we are using doesn’t take a fee. I do not receive the money and never have and never will. Period.
Many people said “I thought no food was getting into Gaza, how are you getting food in?” Almost no food at all is getting to the 700,000 Palestinians living in the North. Food for sale and food aid gets in daily through Rafah in the South. It’s not enough. Not even close, but it gets in. Our charity partners have had aid get in. We also work with butchers, farmers, merchants, traders, shop owners, and other aid organizations to get whatever we need. It’s brutally difficult.
Palestinians LEAD this project. They lead every aspect of the project in Gaza. My point of contact with our charity partner, Human Concern International, is Palestinian, and our project lead is Palestinian. I am simply raising the money for Palestinians.
It costs us nearly $100,000 per day to run this program but we will be able to provide over 600,000 meals during Ramadan. It’s not enough, but the prayer of my heart is that our efforts, combined with the efforts of others, will make sure that more people are being fed in Gaza than we’ve seen these past 5+ horrible months of the genocide.
Please chip in here today, OK? We’ve raised nearly $1 million but to run this program it will cost us over $3 million for the month.
Love and appreciate you all,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Hello My Friends,
First off, I want to thank you all for your love and support of me, of my wife, Dr. Rai, and of the big decisions and work going on in our lives.
On Sunday evening, we converted to Islam by saying our Shahada with Imam Omar Suleiman and the beautiful people of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center in Dallas, Texas. It was one of the single most special moments of our lives. Here it is if you have not seen it.
I have so much more to tell you about how this came to be and will do so a little bit daily as I can.
We are into our second full day of Ramadan and find it to be a very special and holy time for us. We are praying five times a day and fasting during the daylight from food and drinks alongside more than 1 billion Muslims around the world. We are also purifying our hearts and intentions every day - and learning the many new practices of Islam that are an adjustment for us. We are humbled and honored to be on this journey.
For me, so much of this is about Gaza. I have considered Islam since I was 14 years old (that’s 30 years ago), but it has been my close personal relationships with men and women and families in Gaza that has shown me Islam up close and personal and inspired me to make this decision. I’ve walked hundreds of Palestinian families through grief, hunger, and despair and have seen them still proclaim their faith and belief in God. It impacted my soul in profound ways - and continues to every single day. I have so many other reasons to share, but I must start there.
It’s why I am asking you to join 7,861 people from all over the world who’ve decided to make sure people are fed in Gaza during Ramadan. Tomorrow I will show you all of the new photos and videos of our meal program in Gaza. We’ve opened up two kitchens and have already provided tens of thousands of hot and nutritious meals and food boxes.
In fact, if you go ahead and follow me on TikTok HERE I’ve posted brand new videos and photos there of all of our work so that you can see it for yourself.
It costs us nearly $100,000 per day to run this program but we will be able to provide over 600,000 meals during Ramadan. It’s not enough, but the prayer of my heart is that our efforts, combined with the efforts of others, will make sure that more people are being fed in Gaza than we’ve seen these past 5+ horrible months of the genocide.
Please chip in here today, OK? We’ve raised nearly $1 million but to run this program it will cost us over $3 million for the month.
Love and appreciate you all,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Hello,
I am back home in New York with the family and I’m so proud of what we have raised so far to provide hot meals for Palestinians during the 30 days of Ramadan starting next week. Our dream is to provide 20,000 meals per day - every single day.
So far 3,780 of you have donated an amazing $420,773. I’m proud and grateful.
But we think it’s going to take 30,000 donors for us to reach the $3 million we need to provide a staggering 600,000 meals during Ramadan. WE CAN DO THIS!
We need to raise $1.5 million by this coming weekend to be able to purchase enough food for the start of Ramadan. We are working with local farmers, butchers, shop owners, and have partnered with one of the most effective charities in the world to bring food in from Egypt. We have 2 trucks near the front of the line as we speak.
Can you please join us and chip in here today?
Love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Hello My Friends,
I am at the Toronto airport waiting to fly back home to be with my family before we get back on the road for our tour.
This morning in Gaza, the 15th Palestinian child just died of starvation and malnutrition. I can hardly believe that we are here right now. IT IS AN ABOMINATION.
To be clear, this is not a natural disaster. This is not normal for Palestinians. This is a FORCED STARVATION - which is a war crime and constitutes genocide. Only enough food is getting into Gaza for about 20% of the population - and certain communities literally aren’t getting any food at all. My own friends in Gaza, particularly in the North, where 700,000 people are stuck, with virtually no food or aid, are starving to death.
One of my closest friends there said he only ate ONE TIME last week. He is emaciated and every hour of every day is hard. That’s why I am partnering with the brilliant team at Human Concern International, and a team of very skilled Palestinian volunteers that I have assembled, to serve 20,000 meals per day throughout the month Ramadan - which starts in just one week.
Right now, as I write this, we’ve raised enough funds to feed 20,000 Palestinians for the first 3 days of Ramadan. It will cost us nearly $100,000 per day to feed the community. Ramadan is 30 days long. Food prices are outrageous, but we have already found farmers, butchers, kitchens, shop owners, and more that are going to work with us to make this happen.
Human Concern now has 2 trucks full of food that are close to entering the gates as well and we’re going to immediately pack several more.
BUT WE NEED YOU! It’s going to take 30,000 donors to pull this off. So far we are at 2,845 donors.
You can join us by giving here now!
It is tax deductible and you will receive a tax receipt. If you are a practicing Muslim, this is also a Zakat-certified campaign that will honor your faith. And, as always, I will be showing you our progress every step of the way.
Before I was banned from Instagram, this ambitious dream of ours would’ve been much easier to accomplish, but I just believe in my heart that with you and God, we can still do this.
While every single donation, no matter how small, matters, this is going to take tens of thousands of us stretching ourselves.
Can your business donate?
Can your mosque or church or religious center donate?
Can your family pool their resources together to donate?
Can you recruit friends and family to join you?
Can you sell any stocks or investments to donate?
Can you please donate today? We need you on board, my friend.
I love and appreciate all of you!
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
((If you are in a major hurry, click here now. Otherwise, it is VERY important to me personally that you read what I’m about to say.))
Hello from Toronto,
I spoke here last night and we raised over $500,000 for Gaza and I am getting ready for my next event here tonight. Please pray for me.
Yesterday I sent what I truly believe was the single most important email you will ever get from me. And an AMAZING 1,748 of you chipped in $183,381 to help us feed 20,000 Palestinians per day during the month of Ramadan!
But it’s going to cost at least $100,000 per day, for 30 days, for a budget we need to raise of $3 million. We are working with a brilliant charity on the ground. I have friends and partners on the ground working with them. I know that we are going to accomplish our goal, but WE NEED YOU!
Please make your best donation here today. We truly need to raise $1.5 million before Ramadan begins in just 8 days so that we have time to order the food and make all of the arrangements that must be made.
If you can give $10,000, please give $10,000.
But if your best is $10, please give $10.
12 Palestinian children have literally starved to death in the past 48 hours alone. Our work is life and death.
Love and appreciate each of you,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below
————
Hello from Toronto,
In a few minutes I will be on stage speaking, but I had to send this to you right away.
Many times in my life as a leader, I prepared a message like this, and thought to myself, “This might be the most important message I’ve ever shared.”
Well, undoubtedly, what I am about to say, and what I am about to request of you, is absolutely the most important request I’ve ever made.
We’ve reached the point in the genocide of the Palestinians where people are literally starving to death. After so many massacres across Gaza, when I think I can’t possibly see anything worse than what I’ve already seen, yesterday was a new low.
112 starving Palestinians were slaughtered by Israel tanks and snipers as they waited for food in the North. Over 800 more Palestinians were injured. In the end, it was one of the deadliest mass shootings in the modern history of the world.
If you’ve been following me on Telegram, you’ve seen me and the dear young Palestinian brother, Ali, working to get fruit, vegetables, flour, and meat to Palestinians who otherwise would not have it. Thousands of you donated directly to Ali - who then took 100% of what you donated - and used it in the most profound ways. Some days he built tents for families that were sleeping on the streets. Other days, when he saw that the most pressing need was money itself, he prepared cash envelopes for people, and allowed them to purchase whatever they needed the most. We’ve served thousands of people so far.
About two weeks ago Ali told me a vision he had that deeply resonated with me…
“Shaun, I would like us to try to feed 20,000 people per day during the holy month of Ramadan,” Ali said.
Truthfully, we’d like to feed 2,000,000 people per day - and God willing - one day we will, but our first goal will be 20,000. It’s still a MASSIVE goal. But it’s one we MUST achieve.
For the past two weeks Ali has been negotiating the purchase of food inside of Gaza - and we’ve decided to partner with the beautiful team at Human Concern International (HCI), which has an office inside of Gaza and has been getting trucks through the crossing - to purchase food from outside of Gaza that we will prepare throughout Ramadan.
I think it will cost us at least $3 million to do this - maybe more - because the price of food fluctuates - and can sometimes be outrageously expensive.
We are working now to get food into the North - where the conditions are most severe - and we will absolutely be delivering food throughout Central Gaza and the South.
As we always do, Ali and I will document our work alongside the brilliant team at HCI, and show you our progress and challenges every step of the way.
Please consider making your very best donation by clicking here today.
Before I was banned from Instagram, this ambitious dream of ours would’ve been much easier to accomplish, but I just believe in my heart that with you and God, we can still do this.
While every single donation, no matter how small, matters, this is going to take tens of thousands of us stretching ourselves.
Can your business donate?
Can your mosque or church or religious center donate?
Can your family pool their resources together to donate?
Can you recruit friends and family to join you?
Can you sell any stocks or investments to donate?
It’s going to take ALL OF US - pushing ourselves to the max - to be able to do this - and we simply cannot do it without you.
Your donation is tax deductible and you will get a receipt.
I love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun
PS: My previous emails are below - including the best new ways to follow me online.