The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund to hold Gala

By Susan Schwartz. TMO

The Southern California chapter of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), the world’s largest children’s charity focusing on the needs of children in the Arab world, will hold a banquet and fundraiser on November 1, 2014 at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel in Anaheim, Ca.

Dr. Robin Kelley of the history department at UCLA will be the keynote speaker. The medical presentation will be made by Dr. Renna Hazboun, a dentist and oral surgeon. Dr. Hazboun has been the subject of a feature story in The Muslim Observer (September 19, 2013).

This event will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the chapter and its tenth consecutive gala. It will be titled: Hope is a beautiful thing.

The event will begin at 6:00pm, and attendees will have the opportunity to purchase embroidery made in the oPt by the Women Empowerment Project and displayed in the lobby before the dinner.
Tickets are $100 per person with sponsorship opportunities available. It is suggested that tickets be purchased and/or reserved early as in the past they have tended to sell out before the event date.
The telephone number to reach the PCRF is: (562) 432-0005, and the address is: P. O. Box 791, Palos Verdes Estates, Ca. 90274-0791.

Recently Dr. Robin Kelley was one of a five member delegation to Palestine representing the U. S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). He had been a Board member of that group since 2009. Dr. Kelley is a Professor of American History at UCLA, and in his classes he focuses on social movements, radical change, and the African Diaspora.

He describes himself as an activist whose activism was formed in the 1980’s and was enhanced in part by observing social injustice and police brutality.

r. Kelley is the author of eight books. He is a dedicated friend of the Palestinian people.

Dr. Hazboun has recently returned from another trip to the West Bank where her skills have enhanced the life and health of her patients.

There will be a comedic and an artistic presentation and a video from Mutassem Abukaresh, a child treated in the Los Angeles area recently through the auspices of the PCRF. Mutassem has been denied a via to leave Gaza and will only be able to appear through video.

The PCRF was founded to provide medical treatment to the children of the Middle East whether the need arises from injury, illness, or congenital conditions. Initially the PCRF was founded to treat Palestinian youth, but its scope was expanded to include all needy children in the region.

Teams of medical personnel travel to the children providing not only on site care but acting as teachers to the medical personnel there. If it is deemed that the child in question would receive optimum treatment abroad, the PCRF will arrange for such treatment free of charge to the young patient, and a family member may accompany him Travel expenses are covered for both by the PCRF.
Dental care is also provided. Summer camp for disabled children is made available. Eye glasses, hearing aids, and motorized fitted wheel chairs are also provided. The PCRF conducts a Women Empowerment Project project to make Palestinian women more independent. Many Palestinian women are the sole providers of their families due to the large number of family men currently in Israeli prisons.

Recently a Pediatric Oncology Department was established through the efforts of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

Nor has the recent Israeli incursion into Gaza stopped the essential medical work of the PCRF in that beleaguered nation. At great personal risk the staff and their volunteers have continued to provide medical relief, food, and hygiene kits to the children made homeless by Israeli military action. It is the hope of the PCRF that a Pediatric Cardiology Unit may be opened soon in Gaza.

To read about the enormous work done by this group, please access their web site at: www.pcrf.net.

The PCRF is a 501 (c) (3) organization.

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