Winter Appeal - Read Foundation
Igniting Hope: Educating Through Winter's Chill
As the year draws to a close, many of us look forward to starting anew, setting intentions for a brighter year ahead. However, this period brings challenges for many children around the world, where the bitter cold of winter adds to the adversity they face daily, such as violence, conflict, abuse, and displacement.
With inadequate winter clothing and insufficient heating, these young souls face the harsh realities of winter with little to shield them. Their homes and makeshift shelters offer scant protection against the biting cold, compromising their safety and well-being.
We at READ Foundation recognize that education is a powerful pathway out of poverty, but to embark on this journey, surviving the winter is paramount.
In our commitment to nurture minds and protect lives, we are not only providing educational and learning resources but also delivering essential winter aid. Our campaign extends to the provision of winter clothing—coats, thermal wear, hats, gloves, scarves—and vital necessities such as food packs, heaters, fuel, mattresses, blankets, and waterproofing measures for children in need across Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Yemen.
We stand poised to alter these harsh conditions, to offer these children a chance to thrive and reshape their futures.
Your support is the cornerstone of this mission. Together, we can bring warmth and hope to these young hearts.
How you can HELP?
Clothe a Child: Bring Warmth to Winter
£30£30 can give a vulnerable child or orphan warm winter clothing, such as hats, gloves, scarfs, jackets, and thermal clothing.
Support an Orphaned Family
£70£70 can provide an orphaned or vulnerable family with nutritious food for a month and warm winter clothing.
Shelter a Family
£100£100 can provide an essential heater with fuel, waterproofing, blankets, and mattresses for a family.
Pakistan - Embracing Warmth in the Face of Harsh Winters
In Pakistan, where many orphans face the brunt of cold without the solace of familial warmth, READ’s programme is a beacon of hope. Providing winter clothing such as jackets and sweaters, along with essentials like hats and gloves, ensures these vulnerable children can withstand the cold. A blanket not just wards off the chill but offers a wrap of care.
Lebanon – Nutritious Sustenance Amidst Refugee Struggles
Lebanon, hosting a significant refugee population, sees many children braving winter without proper nutrition. READ steps in with hot meals for schoolchildren, combining education with essential nourishment. Chicken with rice, alongside servings of fruit and vegetables, helps them stay focused on learning, despite the adversities.
Turkiye – Support Through Seasonal Hardships
In Turkiye, where refugee children strive for a semblance of normalcy, READ provides not only education but the warmth of winter clothing. As temperatures plummet, the foundation ensures that boots and socks are there to protect the little feet that walk the path to school.
Yemen – Aiding Resilience in Crisis
Yemen’s ongoing crisis amplifies the cold’s impact on its young students. READ’s intervention with winter apparel is a critical support to their resilience. In classrooms, the provision of yogurt and vegetables as part of hot meals fuels both body and hope for a brighter future.
Winter Appeal Update – Reports from the Ground Teams
At the beginning of December, we appealed for your support in helping us deliver winter kits for vulnerable children and their families in Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey and Yemen.
This is what you have helped us to deliver so far:
YEMEN (Al Ma’afer, Taiz)
With fuel prices and the cost of food increasingly dramatically, 7.3 million Yemenis desperately needed shelter and non-food item aid this winter. Nearly 75% are women and children.
In December, we distributed 178 winter kits containing blankets, fleece pyjamas, jackets, socks and scarves to the families of students and teachers, alongside the provision of 178 hot meals to students at their school.
PAKISTAN (Azad Jammu and Kashmir)
With record lows of -17° C and an average temperature of around 3°C, winters in AJK are harsh. It has been predicted that this year will be one of the most severe winters recorded. 25% of people in AJK are living in poverty and with power outages for up to 10 hours a day, winter hits them hard.
Alongside our provision of education and learning materials, we have provided 1,150 orphans attending READ Foundation schools with warm clothes, hats and shoes, so they are better equipped to face the cold winter weather.
LEBANON (Arsal Valley: Ketermaya Camp)
Refugees in Beqaa and Arsal valleys continue to live in overcrowded shelters with conditions below humanitarian standards. Winter storms bring freezing temperatures, heavy winds, snow and rain, and have added to the hardship for refugees living in camps and makeshift shelters.
In total, we have delivered 199 blankets, fuel and food parcels of rice, sugar, lentils, chickpeas, salt, beans flour and other staples to families in need.
In addition to providing an education, we delivered hot meals daily to 80 students on our School in a Bus programme.
Thank you for your support in making this possible.
