One Arab World

I would like to point out and acknowledge a wonderful duo in Dahab, a small resort renowned for its Red Sea Diving about 50km from Sharm Elshikh; Astrid and Detlef Westerburg, proprietors of www.dahab.net. This German couple moved to Dahab three years ago and are involved in helping the local small hotel owners gain a wider audience through the internet and special events.

The reason I have chosen to mention them is because they took it upon themselves to not only donate generously to Sharm Relief but for also collecting donations from other individuals in their community through their site (not to mention the amount of traffic they passed on to SharmRelief.com.)

To Astrid and Detlef, the families of the victims of terror thank you not only for your generosity but for your time and effort as well.

Also, we are transferring the first batch of funds collected as donations by SharmRelief.com to Pray4Peace.org's special account with the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC). The ERC will handle the distribution with our supervision and has agreed not to subtract any maintenance and upkeep fees. We have requested of the ERC to distribute the money equally to the twenty-two families of the confirmed breadwinning victims. This will amount to approximately 1000Le each (aprox $165) and is 1/5 our total goal of 5000Le (equal to the official governmental payment).

Here is a summary of the donations collected thus far excluding donations from Egypt.

A shortlist of the victims of the Sharm Elshikh attacks is now available here at  SharmRelief.com

There is an ad on TV these days that I really like. It’s a dozen people standing around a piece of litter complaining about the audacity of some people until some kid walking by just picks it up and tosses it in the trash.  

Take the initiative. Just get out there and do it. We need all the help in the world with SharmRelief.com and those families need us.

So on behalf of those families I am going to ask of you something. I don’t want you to donate. I want you to get a few others to. Take the initiative and make a fundraising event of your own.

Ideas….

Use the 50 bucks you would have donated to buy chips and dip for a fund raising party at your house. At the apex of the party have everyone get in line in front of your computer and donate.

Hold an auction of your artwork or unwanted sports gear. Have the winner donate their fees to sharmrelief.com.

Offer discounts at your store with receipt of donation to SharmRelief.com

Get a minute with the mic at your place of worship.

Get creative and have fun with it. You will feel absolutely high on life if you get just a few people to shed their apathy and work towards a common good.

Thank you in advance and keep me posted with your fundraising idea and I will mention the most creative ones here.  

Karim Elsahy

I am pleased to announce that we are in final talks with the Egyptian Red Crescent to sponsor, supervise, and assist our fundraising and distribution in Egypt. Collections may commence as early as this Sunday. We will have collection booths available in Marina and Sharm Elsheikh as early as next Thursday.

We are also setting up a few lavish fundraising events with 1,000LE to 5,000LE covers over the next few weeks. In all cases the venues and resources used such as food, adverts, and staff are the donations of the locations and are not overhead from donations collected so that 100% of the donations go directly to the families.

As of this writing we have collected, in under a week, approximately $2,500 and have pledges for 30,000LE pending the Red Crescent deal.

We have also signed up renowned Plastic Surgeon Dr. Nabil Elsahy (yeah, pops) to take on a few of the more severe cosmetic, primarily facial, injuries pro bono. Selection of these patients will be at the discretion of the Red Crescent and will be determined by both the complexity of required surgery and financial need.

If you or anyone you know is interested in helping within your needed professions such as long term medical assistance or structural and engineering services please contact us immediately.

Below is a copy of our latest correspondence with the Secretary General of the Egyptian Red Crescent

Prof. M. Gabr

Secretary General of the Egyptian Red Crescent

CC:

Dr. Magda Sherbini

            It was a delight and an honor speaking with you this morning Mr. Secretary. Your accomplishments and efforts are a beacon to humanity.

            To recap our discussion in writing we, Pray 4 Peace, proprietors of SharmRelief.com, are requesting cooperation with the Egyptian Red Crescent in the collection of local donations as well as logistical support. You have graciously agreed to open a separate Red Crescent account in which donations collected on behalf of Pray 4 Peace or SharmRelief.com may be stored untouched until a time of our choosing, most probably in early September 2005, and distributed in conjunction with donations collected though SharmRelief.com directly through us to the next of kin of the families of the local victims of the Sharm ElShiekh attacks with your supervision. We are also inviting a representative from the US Department of State to join in the supervision process. 

            We also request a representative or volunteers from the Egyptian Red Crescent join our, as of this writing, sixteen volunteers in the collections process in order to collect the donations on our behalf. We are in the process of securing donations booths in Marina and Sharm El Shiekh. We are also in talks with the Rotary to develop fund raising luncheons and in talks with high end restaurants such as the Cairo Capital Club to hold fundraising events. We request that a representative from your organization be present at all of these events. We will provide them with all travel expenses and accommodation. We also request the use of any advertising material you may have for the booths and permission to add a sponsored by the Egyptian Red Crescent banner on our web site.

On behalf of Pray 4 Peace I thank you for your efforts and kindness.

Karim Elsahy M.A.

Director of Pray 4 Peace

(Pray 4 Peace is a non profit organization pending articles of incorporation due August 8^th 2005)

SharmRelief.com has just reached its first milestone of $840!

That is the equivalent of one official payment made to a single family of the victims of the Sharm attacks. Our goal is to double the government's efforts and raise an additional $840 per family. We still haven't received the official list of next of kin but estimates put the figure at either 78 or 79. In about 24 hours we have finished raising enough to double one family's compensation. Either 77 or 78 to go!

For those of you that have been emailing me from Egypt and the UAE I know paypal doesn't accept money from those locations. Amr Fiesal is currently in the process of forming a local non profit (Gam3aiah) but unfortunately things like this take more time to form in Egypt. He is forming an email list of people that wish to donate so as soon as it's up (within the next couple of days hopefully) he will notify you. Email him to get on the list at

Amr@sharmrelief.com

Thank you.
Karim Elsahy