In honor of the holiday season, in the spirit of giving and being thankful for what you have, the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem and the YES Alumni Network in the West Bank organized a clothing drive from November 10th through December 31st, when the last batch of packages were dropped off to the organization to be distributed to those who need it most.

On Friday November 24th, donations collected by the Consulate were dropped off at the AMIDEAST Office in Ramallah to be added to the donations that were collected by the YES alumni. The alumni then organized the donations in place and made sure everything was in good condition. The next step was delivery to The Palestinian Maintenance Fund in Nablus, where the alumni later helped the organization distribute items to families in need just shortly after Thanksgiving.

A second load of new and gently used clothes and was delivered a week before Christmas, on December 15th, to the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development in Nablus. The alumni helped distribute items to women who are in need or who were victims of domestic violence. 

For the final holiday of giving, a third batch of items was delivered to the Fakker bghayrak (Think of Others) campaign in Ramallah on New Year’s Eve.

Each organization helped identify the families and assisted in distribution alongside the YES alumni. Some of the organizations have also been passing on messages of thanks from the recipients, as they were very happy with the quality and quantity of the donations. The YES Alumni Network in the West Bank was able to deliver a total of approximately 50 boxes of high quality donations.