Seeds for Syria

Right now, it's not vegetable planting season in Syria, it's winter - the fourth winter of the humanitarian crisis brought on by war is settled in on the population, which includes 6 million people displaced from their homes. As shown in the photo here, our partner the Karam Foundation is helping out now by distributing potatoes and cooking oil to families who lack food. This photo is from rural Idleb, Syria. But: what happens when food aid runs out, as just occurred briefly when the UN World Food Program ran out of money for Syria?

The beauty of seeds is that they help people grow their own food, decreasing dependence on aid, and even allowing the saving of some seeds to plant the next season's crop.

Idleb, shown in the photo, is in fact one of four regions that will be serviced with this first seed delivery, come spring.

Our first shipment of vegetable seeds - 41,000 packets - departed JFK airport this week, headed to Turkey where they will be staged for distribution to in-country refugee households in Syria as Spring planting season approaches. Vegetables include cabbage, melon, okra, lettuce, eggplant, hot and sweet peppers, and several other vegetable seed types.

41,000 seed packets sounds like a lot at first, but the number shrinks a whole lot in light of the 6,000,000 displaced. That's why your donation to this ongoing GlobalGiving project is needed. We're aiming to multiply this one pallet of vegetable seed manyfold, and help more people who have suffered alone long enough. Please spread the word using the links at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/seeds-for-syria/share/.