Local project aims to help children in Gaza, Israel

It was earlier this year at the Jewish Community Campus, as Israel’s Consul General to the Midwest discussed the smoldering mini-war between the Jewish state and the Gaza-based Islamist militant group Hamas, that the overwhelmingly Jewish audience booed Ahmed El-Sherif for daring to ask a critical question.

Sam Nachum, a Jew born in Jerusalem to Iraqi refugees, felt empathy for the Egyptian-born man of Palestinian-refugee heritage, so he reached out to El-Sherif by phone the next day.

Rather than sink into despair, they decided to accentuate the positive and try to bring some cheer into the lives of children on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border. Their joint efforts since that time, aided by about 40 other volunteers, has been building to a public launch event set for Thursday, Oct. 22, at which donations of new toys are being solicited. (See below for details on the two-part kickoff.)

El-Sherif had previously worked with the local humanitarian organization Heart to Heart International on a Gaza-aid project back in the 1990s, and so he reached out to its founder, Dr. Gary Morsch, for help with the project that has come to be known as “Let the Children Pray for Peace.”

Morsch has offered one of his non-profit organizations as a conduit for donations while Nachum and El-Sherif get LCPP established as its own charitable entity. The late local attorney and peace activist, Allan Abrams, was working on that when he died earlier this month, organizers say.

Something positive
The kickoff event will feature a “peace walk” from a downtown park to the Rime Buddhist center, plus a candlelight gathering in the evening at the Sister Cities bridge across Brush Creek on the Plaza.

Dana Nachum, Sam’s wife, has also been working on the project, and she notes the diversity of the organizing committee members, who also include Dr. Rauf Mir, Nick Awad, Elizabeth Alex and Michael Tabman.

“We have Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, atheists, Quakers, a Catholic nun,” she said. “We have people from Pakistan, India, Jordan, Palestine …”

“Usually, when people go down to the Plaza, they are protesting something, or we are protesting something,” Sam Nachum said. “This is the first time the two groups (Ed. note: Jewish and Arab) are getting together for something positive.”

“We need something positive, because there is so much negativity in the atmosphere,” said El-Sherif.

The Nachums (Sam and Dana’s son, Ben, is also involved) and El-Sherif say they will take the donated items and deliver them to needy children in Sderot, Israel, and Gaza City. Sam Nachum says Sderot officials have been receptive to his offer of donated playthings. The organizers hope to visit the region in March, when their donations are to be delivered.

Nachum says it’s important, from a cultural standpoint, for people to donate new, and not used, toys and equipment.

Launch set Oct. 22
Let the Children Play for Peace, a new, local, interfaith organization, will hold its inaugural event, a “Peace Walk” starting at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at Washington Square Park, at the corner of Pershing and Grand. The group will walk to the Rime Buddhist Center, 700 W. Pennway St. A luncheon will begin there at noon. The cost is $10. RSVP to Lisa Shunk, (913) 563-5100.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, area residents, and especially young people, are invited to gather at the Sister Cities Bridge near the corner of Ward Parkway and Central Street for a “Stand for Peace” candlelight vigil. Donations of toys, kites, sports equipment and school supplies will be accepted at both of the kickoff events.

For more information on the project or the kickoff event, visit www.letthechildrenplayforpeace.org or e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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