🏫 We are behind — but we can still reach $150,000 by Tuesday. Can you please donate today?

Our team in Gaza is counting on us. Help us unlock the $10,000 bonus and keep construction on track.

As-Salaam-Alaikum and good morning from Baltimore. I am speaking at the ICNA Conference for the next few days and hope to see some of you there.

My friends I need to speak to you honestly and hopefully at the same time.

We have now raised $106,522 from 825 supporters to help build a school for orphaned children in Gaza. That is beautiful. That is serious. That is more than $100,000 raised for classrooms, teachers, washrooms, counselling space, solar support, secure fencing, and a safe courtyard for children who have already lost far too much.

But we are also behind the pace we need.

By Tuesday night, we need to reach $150,000 in order to unlock the $10,000 LaunchGood bonus for this school. That means we need to raise $43,478 more in the next few days.

That is a big mountain, but it is not impossible. We have already crossed $100,000. We have already shown that people care. We have already shown our team on the ground in Gaza that this community can move. Now we need the next wave of donors to help us keep our promise to these children.

🏫 Donate now and help us reach $150,000 by Tuesday night

I know many of you have given already. I know some of you have given more than once. I know some of you have stretched yourselves in ways that only Allah fully knows. Please hear me when I say this: I am deeply grateful. Every donation has mattered. The $5 gifts mattered. The $50 gifts mattered. The $500 gifts mattered. The $5,000 gifts mattered. Allah knows what each of us is capable of giving and what it costs us to give it.

But I also know that many people reading this have not given yet.

And I want to ask you, with all the love and urgency I can, to join us today.

The first 825 donors went first. They proved this school has real support. They helped carry us past $100,000. Now we need 175 more donors just to cross 1,000 supporters, and we need enough of us giving generously to reach $150,000 by Tuesday night.

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

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, 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 all of that pain, but it can give children something they urgently need: a daily rhythm of safety, learning, care, play, counselling, and adults who are invested in their future. For a child who has lost parents, home, school, and stability, a safe classroom is not a small thing. It is a mercy. It is a beginning. It is a sign that the world has not completely abandoned them.

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 here is the hard truth: none of that gets built unless we raise the funds.

The team in Gaza can plan. They can prepare. They can believe in us. But they cannot build classrooms with hope alone. Hope has to become donations. Donations have to become construction. Construction has to become a school. And that school has to become a safe place where hundreds of orphaned children can learn again.

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

Here is what we need now:

• $43,478 more to reach $150,000 by Tuesday night and unlock the $10,000 LaunchGood bonus

• $143,478 more to fully fund the school

• 175 more donors to cross 1,000 supporters

• About 435 people giving $100 would get us to the $150,000 milestone

• Or 87 people giving $500

• Or 44 people giving $1,000

• Or a few major donors stepping forward today with $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, or more

No one has to do everything, but all of us have to do something. If you can give $5, give $5. If you can give $50, give $50. If you can give $100, $500, or $1,000, please do that today. And if Allah has placed the capacity in your hands to give $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $100,000, or cover a major portion of the remaining need, I am asking you directly to step forward now.

🇵🇸 Donate now through the verified LaunchGood campaign

We are still in the blessed days of Dhul Hijjah, which Muslims believe are the most special days of the year for righteous deeds. For Muslims, this is a sacred time to increase in charity, prayer, mercy, and service. For those who are not Muslim, but who care about Gaza’s children, 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 deserve a safe place to learn.

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 this hard because the children are worth it. Our team in Gaza is counting on us. The school is possible. The plan is real. And even though we are behind pace right now, we are not defeated. We are not turning back. We are going to keep going until this school is funded, insha’Allah.

🏗️ Please give now and help us unlock the $10,000 LaunchGood bonus

After you give, please forward this email to 3 people who care about Gaza, children, education, mercy, and justice. Tell them we have raised $106,522, but we need $43,478 more by Tuesday night to reach the next urgent milestone and unlock the bonus.

We can still do this.

But we need all hands on deck.

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,
Shaun