Fund a Transformative Summer for Orphan Girls

Help us raise $20,000 in 20 days to deliver the Artful Mind Summer Program (June 15 – August 6, 2025) at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). Your gift will give 25 girls, ages 6–18, living in state-run orphanages the chance to study English, explore art and yoga, learn vital life skills, and envision futures far beyond institutional walls.

Meet Four of the Girls You’ll Help:

Leila, 16, fills her battered sketchbook with sweeping landscapes and dreams of defending Barcelona’s back line like her hero Héctor Fort. The Artful Mind Project will connect her with AUIS mentors to nurture her art and athletic ambitions. Rojin, 13, who taught herself to read without ever attending school, once shadowed an Erbil doctor and now studies anatomy by flashlight. This program will give her the English skills and confidence to pursue her dream of becoming “Dr. Rojin.” Hawjin, 17, reads family-law cases on a borrowed tablet, driven to help spouses better mediate domestic disputes and foster safer, stronger households for their children. She’ll refine public-speaking skills and receive mentorship from AUIS legal professionals. Sara, 15, a Syrian refugee with upper-intermediate English, sketches bridge designs and tutors her younger housemates. The program will sharpen her English and STEM leadership skills, pair her with a female mentor (either a student or graduate of engineering), and offer practical guidance to inspire her career path.

“When you stand with these girls, your gift doesn’t just fund a summer—it becomes the pen that lets these girls write their own futures.”

Why This Program Matters

For three years, AUIS’s Moulakis Library has paired faculty, staff, and student volunteers with children in state care. This summer, we focus exclusively on girls surviving violence, abandonment, or trauma. Four days a week, they’ll engage in:

Proven to build resilience and open doors to education and employment, this program transforms scrap paper into canvases and hesitation into confidence.

A Transformative Collaboration

This year’s Artful Mind Summer Program unites three partners with complementary strengths: AUIS will host and lead the program on its U.S.-accredited campus, providing faculty instructors and mentors and state-of-the-art facilities; EPIC (Enabling Peace in Iraq Center) will securely manage donations, disburse funds, ensure financial transparency, and evaluate outcomes; and the Iraqi Children Foundation will advise on trauma-informed care and children’s programming, informed by award-winning initiatives like Baghdad’s Hope Buses and the Mosul Girls Centers.

Your Impact: A Lean, Transparent Budget

Every dollar is amplified by AUIS volunteers and facilities, maximizing your contribution.

Whether you give a little or a lot, you will put tools, mentors, and fresh possibilities in these girls’ hands. Please donate today and share this campaign—let’s show them how far a community of supporters can carry their dreams.

Become a Transformative Sponsor:

If you’re able to make a leadership gift, we’d love to recognize you publicly* as a program sponsor.

Every Gift Matters—and will be listed in our donor roll. Donors at all levels will receive photo updates during the program and the final impact report.

* Prefer to remain anonymous? Just let us know—we’ll keep your gift confidential.

Urgency & Call to Action

With 20 days to secure $20,000, your contribution today doesn’t just fund a program—it ignites futures.

Donate today and share this campaign. Together, we’ll prove these girls’ dreams are worth the world’s investment.