Lukas Prentice
Fundraising Emergency Aid For Gaza & The Gaza Sunbirds Para-cycling Team
Fundraising for Amos Trust
Story
We are fundraising for emergency aid in Gaza and the Gaza Sunbirds, a para-cycling team on the ground in Gaza Palestine.
In light of the ongoing genocide, the para-team have reverted all their resources, putting their Paralympic dreams on hold, to do all that they can to provide urgent community-led aid by bike.
The Sunbirds are a team of 20 athletes from Gaza, founded in 2018 when Alaa al-Dali, an Olympic hopeful cyclist, standing alone at a Great March of Return rally, was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper.
During that period Israeli forces killed 214 Palestinians, 46 of them children, injured 36,143, and 125 of them lost their limbs - including many members of the team.
Alaa had a dream of being a champion with both legs. After his amputation, he remains determined to be a champion for Palestine with one.
Their grassroots network of Staff, Athletes and Volunteers at the Gaza Sunbirds work together, risking their lives daily to secure and distribute emergency essentials and resources to families sheltering across the South of the Gaza Strip.
80% of the team have lost their homes. There is no gas or electricity, and they struggle to find food and water to sustain their families.
The team do not bring aid into Gaza. Instead, they source food and essentials (including maternity and sanitary care packages) from remaining farms, warehouses, and supermarkets and distribute them in areas which, due to the bombardment, traditional aid organisations are no longer able to reach. Due to their smaller size, we are also able to respond to individual needs within the community.
To date, the athletes and staff have distributed over $45,000 USD worth of aid.
Their main idea now is to help people survive until larger aid organisations step in. This will only happen through community action and mutual support. This is the process they want to fund one week at a time.
This is an emergency aid fund, we don't know how long it will keep going for, but the UK-based organisation has promised that if their ability to provide support on the ground were to end then they will ensure that all funds are used in the way donors intended or for future Gaza Sunbirds cycling projects.
For its over 3000 amputee residents (one of the highest rates of amputation in the world), opportunities are even scarcer.
We support them in chasing their dreams to represent Palestine on the global stage, and of paving the way for amputees in Gaza and around the world to rise above through determination and excellence in sport.
Any donations to aid will be massively appreciated! 🧡
