Big Picture Foundation kids will help the United Nations Association raise funds to build the Furaha School at the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, by hosting lunches or dinners.  Hosts should provide guests with information and suggested donation to be made towards the UNA’s school-building project.  There are no requirements for the dinner parties, other than that hosts should add their own creative twist.  Hosts  can serve pizza to two friends or serve 15 friends multi-course feasts. Guests can donate whatever amount the choose, regardless of the suggested donation.  The suggested donation should not rise above $20.  The best way for guests to donate is to go to the “please suppose us” link on the Big Picture Foundation homepage.  We will then write a group check from the Big Picture Foundation to the United Nations Association.

Adopt-A-Future to Help Refugee Children

It is currently estimated that over 65 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes, the highest figure ever recorded. Approximately 600,000 refugees currently reside in Kenya; more than half of these refugees are under 18 years old. UNA-USA is partnering with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and its fundraising arm (USA for UNHCR), to provide direct support for refugee education overseas, and welcoming refugee families at home. The Adopt-A-Future campaign supports refugee children worldwide, and is currently giving special emphasis to Kenya. The country has absorbed thousands of new refugees from conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Somalia, while receiving little media attention and very limited philanthropic support. In the current year, the program will focus on supporting schools in two UNHCR camps in Kenya (Dadaab and Kakuma). The United Nations Association of New York (UNA-NY) is adopting the Furaha School in Dadaab as part of its commitment to the campaign, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  Along with other UNA chapters nationwide, the NY host chapter has undertaken a fundraising goal of $30,000, that will be used to help build classrooms for the Furaha School, which serves 1,944 students, ages 6 to 13, who have been forced to flee their homes in the midst of devastating conflict. These funds would serve the needs of at least 40 children for 10 years.