Charles Flickinger, longtime community member, connected us to Palestinian House of Friendship, who he has worked with for 20 years. PHF is a non-profit, interfaith, independent community organization in the West Bank city of Nablus, dedicated to serving the needs of children, adolescents, and their families. PHF promotes the ideals of democracy, human rights, peaceful resolution of conflict, and love for the other. In recent years, PHF has worked to mitigate the financial and emotional losses caused by the COVID pandemic and Israeli occupation by creating spaces for play, education, and basic needs. Some of these basic needs are met by assembling and distributing “Boxes of Love” which are loaded with essential goods and distributed to the most impacted and vulnerable families in their community. The current violence and influx of refugees from Gaza has significantly multiplied the need for these “Boxes of Love”.

This Palm Sunday, we are taking up a special offering to benefit the Palestinian House of Friendship and their efforts to distribute “Boxes of Love”. A donation of $75 dollars supports one Box of Love; donations of any amount are encouraged and will be matched 2 to 1, up to the first $5,000, by a generous partner.