WASHINGTON, March 12 (KUNA) -- The American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) voiced here its gratefulness to the Kuwaiti government for its donation of USD one million to fund ANERA's work with children in Gaza.
ANERA said this donation would enable it to operate its 'Milk for Preschoolers' program, which had been delivering vitamin-fortified milk and biscuits to 20,000 preschool children across Gaza since 2003.
It said it would also use the donated monet to continue its renovations of preschools and support of education across Gaza.
"Milk for Preschoolers has garnered the support of many donors who see ANERA successfully reaching people in need in a location rife with challenges, " the non-profit organization indicated.
It said that the USD one million donation was "a valued endorsement of ANERA's ability to deliver with the highest standards of accountability and responsibility." ANERA said that it was "deeply grateful to two particular individuals for making this donation possible," namely Kuwait's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and Kuwait's Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
The organization affirmed its commitment to the people of Gaza, saying that "thanks to donors like the Kuwaiti government, we look forward to serving Gaza's growing children and their parents well into a future and fostering stability and opportunities for all." Commenting on this matter, Sheikh Salem told KUNA late Thursday that Kuwaiti-Palestinian relations were "distinguished and historic." He added that the Palestinian issue "has always been and will remain" one of the priorities of the Kuwaiti leadership, government and people, noting that Kuwaiti aid to the Palestinian people - both moral and financial - "never stopped." The ambassador said that given the "difficult political, economic and living conditions under which the Palestinians in general, and Gazans in particular, are living, the Kuwaiti donation comes to provide the simplest living requirements for the children of Gaza." Sheikh Salem expressed hope that all the obstacles facing the Palestinian people would be removed so that they could have decent living conditions like that of people living in their independent and sovereign country.
ANERA, based in Washington DC, has been a leading provider of development, health, education and employment programs to Palestinian communities and impoverished families throughout the Middle East.
In 2009, the relief and development agency delivered more than USD 50 million worth of programs to the people of the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan. - Kuna