Our dear friend and colleague, Ayman Abu Rouk, is currently living in a tent in Gaza with his wife, elderly mother, sister, and five children after their home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. Their only way to buy food is when we donate.
Ayman is a human rights organizer who founded and ran Youth Without Borders for over two decades in collaboration with international organizations and our friend Alison Avigayil Ramer worked with him for over 10 years. Youth Without Borders empowers Palestinian youth to be community organizers, social entrepreneurs and human rights advocates.
Even after Ayman’s home and youth center was bombed, Ayman used his life savings to launch a youth-run soup kitchen in Al Mawasi during the war to feed other displaced families and give the youth some agency in the midst of enormous trauma.
No one thought that this would go on for so long. Now, Ayman needs us to help him and his family survive. It changes the world when we help the helpers.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Description text goeThe creator of this fundraiser, Alison Ramer, lived and worked in Palestine for 17 years and has worked with local and international organizations including Oxfam, International Red Cross, Red Crescent, the United Nations and the European Union as well as many lesser known Palestinian-led organizations.
Alison has been a close friend and colleague of Ayman for 10 years. She worked with him to develop Youth Without Borders, a Palestinian youth organization focused on human rights and democracy in Gaza.
She wrote about their relationship on Substack: “In the Midst of Horror: Choosing Humanity.” You can also follow her on Instagram, see her LinkedIn profile, read her writing on Substack or reach out directly.
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Along with their homes and offices, the servers that held the Youth Without Borders website were destroyed by an Israeli bombardment. You can find Ayman’s LinkedIn here and the organization’s Arabic facebook page here.
You can also find Ayman Abu Rouk on Instagram and Facebook. Let him know you want to help. -
Daily Survival. In the near term, Ayman’s family needs food, clean water, and the basic necessities of survival. For months, humanitarian aid organizations have been unable to enter Gaza and the cost of this food is very high.
The prices of food keep climbing. A kilo of flour now costs $50, and the family requires at least 1.5 kilos per day and they can’t survive on flour alone. While some vegetables and lentils are available, they are also extremely expensive. The other day Ayman purchased a few small peppers and tomatoes for $18 dollars usd.
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To heal physically and psychologically, Ayman and his family will eventually need to leave Gaza. Unfortunately at this time, the border is closed and the only way to leave Gaza is the help of someone in a foreign embassy.our donations help them survive until there the border crossing reopens.
Earlier in the year, the only way to leave Gaza and to resettle in Egypt was to pay an estimated $7,000 per person. This money is paid to Egyptian consulting companies that have relationships with the Egyptian government and security services.
Alongside the urgent funds needed for food, we hope to line up pledges toward the approximately $63,000 needed to help Ayman’s family evacuate and resettle in Egypt.
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Lifting the siege and letting food in is essential for every person in Gaza.
In the meantime, the food that is getting into Gaza is is wildly expensive. When people were starving around them, the Rouk chose to spend their last savings on feeding others They don’t have any money left and they need our help. It’s important to help the helpers.
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Soon! We are in the process of arranging fiscal sponsorship and will be able to offer tax receipts soon.
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Ayman and his family also have proven that they know how to generously use what they have to help others through relationships, care, expertise and on the ground knowledge. We are have a long ways to go to meet our fundraising goal and can say without a doubt that no dollar will be wasted.
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There’s so much! Reach out. We can help you get plugged in.
Media Kit
Would you like to do more? You can help by sharing the campaign with other people. Here’s a basic media kit that includes texts and images that can help you get started!
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Group of instagram images to be shared.
Our friend Ayman Abu Rouk is nearly starving to death in a tent in Gaza with his wife, five children, elderly mother, and sister. Their home was destroyed. Their youth center was bombed.
They are only surviving because of our support.
We’re raising funds for food, water, and—when the borders open—a way out.
Every dollar helps keep this family alive.👉 Learn more and donate here
Please give, share, and help us spread the word.
#Gaza #MutualAid #YouthWithoutBorders
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Dear Friends,
I’m reaching out to ask if you can support one family in Gaza—a family I’m now in direct relationship with, and who has a deep, longstanding connection to my dear friend’s dear friend, (name your connection).
You are just one or two degrees away from a family that is depending on us to survive.
I know it can be overwhelming to choose where to put your care, your time, your resources. But I hope this makes it easier to take action. This isn’t an abstract cause—it’s a real family, with names and faces, who have loved and led and given so much to their community. And now they need us.
In times like these, being able to reach for each other through our extended networks of care is a big part of what carries us.
When tragedy struck, Ayman Abu Rouk and his family didn’t turn inward—they turned toward their people. With their home destroyed, their youth center bombed, and their lives uprooted, they used what little they had to create a youth run soup kitchen for others. That kind of care and generosity is what builds the better world we all long for.
And yet, the suffering around us is massive. It’s easy to freeze in the face of so much grief, guilt, and helplessness. We see endless things we wish we could fix. But we can reclaim our agency—just like the youth and families of Youth Without Borders did in the midst of unimaginable trauma.
Psychologists call this a “protective factor”—a way to shield ourselves from despair by taking meaningful action. Supporting Ayman’s family is a way back into motion, into connection, into purpose. And that will help us strengthen the muscles to help the next family, or do the next thing needing our attention.
When you invite someone new to join you in this effort, you’re not just asking for money. You’re offering them a path out of overwhelm. You’re helping them become part of a story of survival, solidarity, and shared humanity that they can bring to the many places we are needed.
And one day, when we look back on this moment—the way we look back on the darkest chapters in history—we will ask:
Who was I, when it mattered most?
👉Learn more and donate here
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