It’s the time of year when we make resolutions to better ourselves. Gym memberships go way up. Folks try to stop drinking, eat healthier, begin exercising, set goals for how many books they will read, start therapy, etc. Self-improvement and care are vital in our growth and journey, but we don’t exist in a vacuum.
A sprouted plant can only grow so well in poisoned soil. A sapling can only hold on for so many storms. Our world is absolutely fucked. This year, think about a resolution that impacts the lives of others. Small actions you can make that have a material impact on those struggling every day in Gaza. Whether you can think of doing one small thing, or pick one or two medium or big actions for the year, here are some ideas:
Small Resolutions:
Make small recurring donations to a family in Gaza. Below are nine words, assigned randomly to a family in Gaza. Pick the one that calls to you, click the link, and sign up for a recurring donation.
Connection — Forgiveness — Charm — Grace — Exuberance — Creativity — Admiration — Comfort — Sincerity
Go to this link to find zines of dozens of families, and download and print them. In most places, you can print for free at the library. Leave these in free little libraries, in grocery stores, or on community boards. This way more eyes are on the individual families needing help. So many people intellectualize this atrocity and aren’t confronted with the real human lives that have been so detrimentally affected since 10/07/23 (and earlier).
Send this newsletter to someone you know that isn’t on social media! It’s full of lots of ways to help.
Medium resolutions:
Commit to helping one family in Gaza. From what I have noticed, the most successful campaigns happen when one person outside of Gaza, consistently supports and posts for one family. If you can accept the task of making daily or weekly posts on social media for one family, it’s a huge difference - genuinely life-saving. I understand it’s impossible to choose from all of the people who desperately need help, so ask me. I will connect you with someone that needs you.
If you aren’t using social media and you don’t want to start, keep an eye out for my next post, which will be all about how to help without sinking into the cesspool of social media.
Agree to help run a raffle online! This is an effort with a deadline. There are dozens of folks willing to give their goods and services to raffles, but it can be somewhat time-consuming to run them. I can connect you with folks willing to contribute, and a family to receive the funds. You would be in charge of promoting, and tracking participants, drawing winners, and connecting winners with their goods or services.
You can also run a raffle or giveaway of your goods or services! If you want help brainstorming, let me know! My brain holds a billion more ideas than there is time or energy for.
Sign up to be connected with a family in Gaza via the SWANA-led organization Creators for Gaza. They will link you with one family that you can either make art for, or you can promote the art others have made.
Large resolutions:
Endeavor to make as many social experiences as possible into small fundraisers. You don’t have to pressure your friends or family. Just make a small statement, put a little jar out, with a QR code on it, and let folks work it out themselves. If you do this twice a month, and you average $10 per activity, that’s $240. That buys a child in Gaza a coat. That buys a family enough flour for a month or more. that buys 3 months of infant formula.
Plan a yard sale, collect all of your excess and unnecessary items, things you no longer want or need, things that no longer serve you and sale them. Donate all proceeds to a family in Gaza.
Raffles or other online opportunities:
PDX in-person opportunities:
Palestinian Poetry night 1/8/25 (I hope to go)
Jazz for Palestine 1/17/25 (I hope to go)
Animal Processing workshop 1/10/25-1/13/25
Button Making for Gaza 1/2/25 (my event)
Some final thoughts as we close 2024
In a series of years in which each one was worst than the last, this year feels like the hardest one yet. However, among the barrage of bad news and awful feelings, I have not felt the same kind of hopelessness that have lined the experiences of past years. This year I have seen the actions of my friends and myself make a real impact on people. Between this and the friendships I have forged with Palestinians in Gaza, it keeps me going. It can often be very overwhelming, which is one of the reasons I started this newsletter. The more people helping, paying attention, and supporting the people struggling to survive through a live-streamed genocide, the better.
Those who have survived genocides past have often said that it’s not those doing the active harm that are the worst, it’s those doing nothing. It’s not too late to start helping people.