Every year MOAS participates in Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving launched to balance the consumerism of the holiday season against a day focused on giving back to charities and communities who need extra support. Each year Giving Tuesday falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and this year is no different, we are gearing up to celebrate together on December 1st with a global fundraising campaign designed to include everyone from major donors, sponsor companies to individual supporters.
This year, in light of COVID, Giving Tuesday is more important than ever. We desperately need our global community to give generously to ensure that we can maintain our programming well into 2021 and beyond. 2020 has been tough for most charities and MOAS has been under extra pressure as we’ve maintained our ongoing programming as well as launching several emergency COVID-relief projects around the world.
This year alone we have continued to provide flood and water safety training to Rohingya refugees and host community volunteers in Bangladesh, as well as launching a reusable mask initiative that saw us make over 800,000 masks for distribution in the region. We’ve shipped 76 tones of famine relief in to Yemen and Somalia to help our in-country partners respond to both the ongoing crises as well as the increased COVID pressures. These efforts were supported by 70,000 Euro worth of pharmaceutical aid and advocacy support for the crisis affected communities.
In the Mediterranean we continued to be active in our mission to advocate for Safe and Legal Routes and we will continue to lend our talents and skills to the Mediterranean migration phenomenon in any way we can. In Malta, where our HQ can be found, we continue to provide social and physical support to migrants receiving in-patient care at the local hospital as well as providing supplies to the government’s migrant support office for new arrivals. COVID inspired two new initiatives, a remote learning project for school aged migrants living in the centers during lockdown and a second reusable mask making initiative run by our amazing volunteers.
All this has meant that MOAS resources, both financial and human, have been under increased pressure this year and we are looking to our supporters and partners to help us through the coming months as we set up programming for 2021. Every donation makes a big difference in MOAS’ capacity to serve communities in crisis so please do give what you can.
This Giving Tuesday our campaign is a little different to usual, as in addition to the ability to donate directly to MOAS we have a special fundraising mechanism in place. MOAS has been working with our first ever Artist in Residence, Kelly Be, who has spent the last few months creating unique pieces of artwork, inspired by our Safe and Legal Routes campaign, in support of MOAS’ advocacy and fundraising initiatives.
See Kelly’s amazing work on our landing page where you can view the art and buy a piece in support of MOAS’ work. Below you’ll find a video where Kelly talks about what inspired her to engage with MOAS and how she has found the experience.
We truly believe that each individual can make a difference to others through their own actions or their support for civil society organizations striving to implement change. MOAS has always relied on the generosity of our international family to promote our work, donate toward our programming and amplify our advocacy. We here at MOAS want to thank you all for being there for us throughout the years and ask you to one again donate this Giving Tuesday and sponsor the change you want to see in the world.
#GivingTuesday2020
