Annual Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) fundraiser
By Rodlyn-mae Banting, Madison 365, Jul 17, 2024
On Sunday, July 21, Madison Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP) will be participating in a Ride for Palestine bike fundraiser to raise money for its longtime partner Middle East Children’s Alliance for Peace (MECA). This will be Madison’s first time participating in MECA’s annual fundraiser.
The Madison team is close to reaching its $3,000 fundraising goal, which will all go towards MECA’s $200,000 goal this year. At the time of this writing, the team has raised 97% of their goal. [130% at this posting]
MECA is a nonprofit organization based out of Berkeley, Calif. that “works to protect the rights and improve the lives of children in the Middle East through aid, empowerment and education,” according to their website. Since it was established in 1988, MECA has provided a wide variety of on-the-ground support in Palestine, including establishing clean water projects, implementing music programs in classrooms, and providing psychosocial support for children who have lost family members.
This year will mark MECA’s third annual bike fundraiser and all proceeds will go to emergency aid in Gaza in light of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine, including emergency assistance to those who’ve had to flee their homes and medical supplies for hospitals and clinics.
Riders are encouraged to arrive at the Tenney Park Pavilion at 10:30 a.m. to decorate their bikes and participate in other arts and crafts, along with supporters and community members. There will be a “shove off” at 11 a.m., after which riders will embark on an 8-mile flat ride on the bike path, then return to the pavilion for more festivities and community building. The ride is anticipated to take approximately an hour and 15 minutes.
Donna Wallbaum, who is a member of MRSCP and is Madison’s team captain, highlighted the importance of showing solidarity with Palestine during this time. “It’s something we can do, right?” she said. “We can’t do a whole lot. But this is a tangible thing that can actually provide aid on the ground.”
Wallbaum emphasized that everyone, whether they’ll be riding or not, is encouraged to join this family-friendly event. “Not every action we do has to be directed towards politicians. We also have communities to build and solidarity to build, and so I wanted to also be part of a celebration of our togetherness,” she said.
Madison’s local chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) will also be co-sponsoring the event. JVP member Samantha Bosco, who moved to Madison in November of last year, emphasized the importance of getting organized with fellow anti-Zionist Jewish Madisonians and showing solidarity with Palestine.
“The very first weekend I moved here, I started going to JVP meetings and getting involved in organizing our local Jewish community,” she said. [We’re] doing as much as we can do to show our support for Palestine and raise our voices against U.S. complicity in genocide.”
Both organizers noted that Madison is a great city to hold a fundraising team because of its strong bike culture, especially since cycling has a long history of popular protest and organizing. “Bikes to me represent a do-it-yourself kind of mentality, [of] each one teach one,” Bosco said. “They are very simple but very efficient machines that bring people together [and give them] freedom and empowerment.”
Madison’s love for cycling is mirrored in the perseverance of the Gaza Sunbirds, the region’s paracycling team made up of riders who are survivors of Israeli attacks and who often have prosthetic limbs. “[It demonstrates] the power of the bicycle to bring people meaning and freedom, even through such adversity,” Bosco noted.
Festivities at Tenney Park will continue until 2 p.m. and will include kid-friendly activities including kite making, sign decorating, chalking, live music, and a read-aloud. Those who are interested in participating in the ride are still encouraged to register.
Most of all, Wallbaum emphasized the event’s opportunity to provide one another with a moment of levity amidst such horrors. “As activists, we sometimes need to be together and heal with one another too,” she said. “This is hard to watch. It’s a very unique situation. This is a specific situation that’s happening very intentionally because of the United States. I think a lot of us feel the weight of that.”
To learn more about, donate to, or join the Madison team, click here.
Rodlyn-mae Banting
Rodlyn-mae Banting is a writer and educator currently pursuing a master’s degree in Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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