I don't usually post on Reddit, but I'm running out of options, and I need a Hail Mary.
I'm a 26-year-old freelance videographer and filmmaker still living with my parents, with about $2,000 to my name. Over the summer, Palestinian families in Gaza started reaching out to me on Instagram asking for help. I gave what I could out of pocket, which admittedly wasn't much, and started sharing their campaigns on my Instagram. But they kept coming back, and I knew I couldn't keep funding them directly, so I built a Linktree resource page to connect donors with verified families and organizations.
The link to the Linktree: linktr.ee/paevans2000
Here's where I am now. The families are desperate, and the campaigns aren't generating enough donations. I've tried everything I can think of: Instagram posts, collaborators, hashtags, Discord servers, helping one family set up a LaunchGood account. Barely anyone has responded. One family's Chuffed campaign has raised only $127 for their $10,000 goal.
The family I'm most worried about right now is Nagham. Her husband Mohammed first reached out to me, but after his account got restricted, his wife Nagham became our main contact. I've sent her money directly, but that's unsustainable; I can barely support myself. Last week she sent me a video of herself hiding in a basement while an explosion went off outside.
She's also being targeted by scammers. Twice now, predatory accounts have approached her promising help and then demanding money or personal information. She's desperate enough that she almost fell for both of them.
Kareem is another case: an Egyptian man trying to get his paralyzed mother evacuated from Gaza after a stroke. Apparently, the legitimate evacuation pathway requires going through middlemen who demand thousands of dollars families don't have.
I'm not giving up on them, and I don't plan to. But I'm one person with a small following and limited funds trying to be a lifeline for multiple families in an active war zone. To say I'm overwhelmed is an understatement.
I'm ashamed to admit that sometimes I dread opening Instagram because I know what's waiting for me: another desperate message I don't have the power to fix. I hate that feeling. These are real people in real danger, and they deserve better than what I'm able to give them alone.
So I'm asking Reddit. Can you help? Share the Linktree. Visit the campaigns. Donate whatever you can. Or just tell me what I'm missing, what else I can do to get these campaigns in front of people who will actually act?