Alight 365: Effecting real change for $500 or less each and every day.
New policies put refugees at risk
.Enraged and Engaged. There has never been a more important time to give.
This week it has become increasingly clear that most, if not all of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian and development operations around the world are coming to a screeching halt. Pennywise stands with our grantee partner, Alight, and the thousands of other non-governmental, non-profit organizations that implement the majority of USAID’s programs as they face an existential resource crisis.
Alight works for and with communities around the world displaced by conflict, persecution and climate change. They have already received notice that US government funding for their programs in Uganda, Myanmar and South Sudan has been suspended. They are bracing for even more bad news. Pennywise supports Alight’s work in Uganda where Alight has already been forced to lay off 163 staff members. These are frontline workers at transit centers who receive refugees fleeing violence in Congo.
The suffering caused by the Trump administration's illegal and immoral actions is real. It is immediate and it is enormous. Alight operates dozens of clinics that are supported through federal funding.
Giving from individuals and like minded NGO’s is the most immediate hope for Alight and so many critical humanitarian service organizations like it.
This week it has become increasingly clear that most, if not all of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) humanitarian and development operations around the world are coming to a screeching halt. Pennywise stands with our grantee partner, Alight, and the thousands of other non-governmental, non-profit organizations that implement the majority of USAID’s programs as they face an existential resource crisis.
Alight works for and with communities around the world displaced by conflict, persecution and climate change. They have already received notice that US government funding for their programs in Uganda, Myanmar and South Sudan has been suspended. They are bracing for even more bad news. Pennywise supports Alight’s work in Uganda where Alight has already been forced to lay off 163 staff members. These are frontline workers at transit centers who receive refugees fleeing violence in Congo.
The suffering caused by the Trump administration's illegal and immoral actions is real. It is immediate and it is enormous. Alight operates dozens of clinics that are supported through federal funding.
- If they are forced to leave the neonatal intensive care units they run, newborns will not survive.
- If they have to close nutrition stabilization centers, malnourished toddlers will die.
- 150,000 people in Kalma Camp in Sudan will lose clean water within hours if Alight’s team is required to leave work.
Giving from individuals and like minded NGO’s is the most immediate hope for Alight and so many critical humanitarian service organizations like it.
Doing the Doable
Pennywise is partnering with Alight 365, a program that offers micro-grants to individuals living in refugee camps that have developed innovative ideas for improving quality of life. Projects funded with $500 or less have:
“It is an unprecedented time for humanitarian agencies. And doing the doable is needed more than ever…We are facing the biggest challenges we EVER have but small changes- funded by $500 or less- make a real, human-sized difference in people’s lives.” Alight
GIVE $500 or less right now to stand up to the Trump regime, help Alight stay open and to have an instant, tangible impact in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Pennywise is partnering with Alight 365, a program that offers micro-grants to individuals living in refugee camps that have developed innovative ideas for improving quality of life. Projects funded with $500 or less have:
- Provided toys, sports equipment and other materials that will help kids in camps be kids.
- Purchased dignity kids for vulnerable women that include upcycled and reusable sanitary products.
- Provided sleeping mats and meals for off business hour arrivals at camps.
- Helped launch sustainable small businesses selling piglets, beans, soap and other locally sourced goods.
- Purchased sewing machines for use in classes, helping young women become tailors
“It is an unprecedented time for humanitarian agencies. And doing the doable is needed more than ever…We are facing the biggest challenges we EVER have but small changes- funded by $500 or less- make a real, human-sized difference in people’s lives.” Alight
GIVE $500 or less right now to stand up to the Trump regime, help Alight stay open and to have an instant, tangible impact in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
What does $500 worth of change look like?
More than you’d think. It looks like cots and mattresses – a soft place to rest – for refugees who’ve just completed their journey to a refugee camp. It looks like art supplies for kids who need a safe place to wait while their siblings and parents receive therapy for malnutrition. It looks like a fresh coat of paint for refugee camp buildings, brightening everyone’s day.
It looks like real change – every single day – for an entire year.
More than you’d think. It looks like cots and mattresses – a soft place to rest – for refugees who’ve just completed their journey to a refugee camp. It looks like art supplies for kids who need a safe place to wait while their siblings and parents receive therapy for malnutrition. It looks like a fresh coat of paint for refugee camp buildings, brightening everyone’s day.
It looks like real change – every single day – for an entire year.
What would I do with $500?
"I would buy bedding and mattresses to put in the Reception Center for refugees and asylum seekers – where they stay until we can setup a shelter for them. All of these people have traveled for days and weeks to reach the refugee settlement. Some have medical complications as the result of violence or abuse. And right now, they have to sleep on the floor and have no soft spot to lie down.”
-HARRIET ADONG, ALIGHT UGANDA
"I would buy bedding and mattresses to put in the Reception Center for refugees and asylum seekers – where they stay until we can setup a shelter for them. All of these people have traveled for days and weeks to reach the refugee settlement. Some have medical complications as the result of violence or abuse. And right now, they have to sleep on the floor and have no soft spot to lie down.”
-HARRIET ADONG, ALIGHT UGANDA