Palestine Partners

My name is Cassandra Dixon, and I helped start Palestine Partners in order to help women in the West Bank who earn a living by selling handmade embroidered items, and whose work and lives have been disastrously impacted by  COVID.  Their cooperative, Women in Hebron, usually sells to tourists, but because of COVID and travel restrictions they have completely lost access to the tourists who bought their products.  I live in Wisconsin, but have traveled repeatedly to visit the Women in Hebron fair trade cooperative in Hebron, and I know that they are committed to helping the women they represent to survive this time and continue to make a living.

Palestine Partners has created an online store to bring their embroidered bags and shawls to US shoppers who can no longer go to them, but the costs of shipping the embroidery from Palestine to the US are very high. Funds from this fundraiser will be used immediately to pay for shipping  shipping of the co-operative's hand made products from Bethlehem to the US, so that they can get  their handcrafted items here in time for sales throughout the holidays, and to then pay for shipping from Bethlehem to the US for the next 3 months.  Supporting the cooperative with shipping costs for shipments to the US for the next 3 months will help them to make sales in the US, and they will then be able to both pay the women who have made the crafts, and will also then be able to pay for shipping themselves in the future.  The loss of the ability to sell to tourists was very abrupt when COVID caused travel to the Holy Land to shut down, and they have  had no way to raise  the shipping costs themselves by selling products in their home  country, so they have been stuck with a store full of hand embroidered gifts that they are unable to sell, and thus unable to pay their members and purchase more materials.   The products are already finished, and the women who make them are hoping to get them to the US quickly in order to  sell them during the US holiday shopping season.  Funds from this fundraiser will be sent by Palestine Partners directly to the Women in Hebron cooperative  by wire transfer for immediate use.
Palestine Partners is incorporated, however it is not yet a non-profit, and donations are not tax deductible.
Here is more information about Women in Hebron:
Women in Hebron  is  a fair trade craft and embroidery cooperative located in the West Bank.  It provides women in the Hebron area with the chance to earn money by producing beautifully embroidered bags, purses, shawls, pillow covers, toys and other items decorated with vibrant traditional Palestinian embroidery.  For many of the cooperative's 150 members  this is the first opportunity they have ever had to earn money independently for themselves and their families.
Now during COVID, because of travel restrictions and the collapse of tourism in the ancient city of Hebron,  Women In Hebron has lost the ability to sell these beautiful products  to visiting tourists, and many of the women who produce the embroidery face loosing their only means of earning an income.  
Palestine Partners was formed by friends of these women in the US in order to help them market their products in the US, and support them during this difficult time.
Here is a link to Palestine Partners' Women in Hebron online store, http://palestinepartners.org/women-in-hebron-store, 
where you can see or purchase the handmade embroidery produced by Women in Hebron. To purchase these lovely holiday gifts you can also  visit their US online store here .
Your donation will be used towards the cost of shipping  materials to get these products from Bethlehem to the US so they can be marketed the US, and will help enable these women to continue to earn a living during this difficult time. All of these women, and their families, are so grateful to you for your help!