Interactive, sensory room for children with autism in Palestine
This campaign has ended on 12-11-2018
Campaign by: Raseel Association
Campaign Summary
Raseel organization is working to establish an affordable sensory room for children with autism in Palestine. The goal of a sensory room is to provide a safe place for children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) to help them calm or stimulate their senses.
Problem
After conducting a research we were able to conclude that there are many challenges related to the rehabilitation of autistic children. We in Palestine do suffer from the following: Lack of awareness about such a disease, the high cost of diagnosing and treatment, the lack of equipment and staff for helping the diagnosed children, the absence of statistics about the number of children with autism.
Solution
We decided to establish sensory room. Sensory rooms are designed to assist someone in organizing, calming, relaxing, and seeking out sensory information. The goal of a sensory room is to provide a safe place where someone who has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) can go when they need to either calm or stimulate their senses. They can be as varied as the people who use them. Sensory rooms provide a great variety of activities to help engage the senses.
Funding this project will provide access to treatment for 50 children per month, 240 sessions per month and will be provided to children for a small amount of money ($ 5), to make sure that each child can have his treatment and to ensure the continuity of service for the next five years with periodic updates.
About Raseel Association
Raseel is a Palestinian charity association that exists for the cause of helping children diagnosed with autism in the west bank. We are a center of excellence having highly trained professionals to provide accredited programs to support individuals with Autism and their families, to be an internationally recognized Autism consultancy center for the region.
Number of supporters
raised out of $15,000
Countries
I learned how to formulate a message that inspires to address a large audience. I also learned the importance of persistence and transparency.
Taita Leila’s Successful Crowdfunding Journey
Stories can be told using various tools. Since ancient times, stories were told visually using tapestries hung on castle walls. Today, stories of Palestinian culture are told through the intricate weaving of embroidered thread. Unfortunately, preserving culture can be a costly ordeal, a situation familiar to the founder of Taita Leila.
In Arabic, Taita is a term commonly used to mean “grandma.” Taita Leila refers to the grandma of the founder, Leila Hussein Fakhri Khalidi, who is the author of “The Art of Palestinian Embroidery. Taita Leila is a social enterprise that creates hand-embroidered pieces of clothing from Palestine while also preserving the heritage of our Palestinian ancestors.
Noora Husseini, the face behind this initiative resorted to launching a crowdfunding campaign in order to give her startup a push in the right direction during June 2015. We picked Noora’s brains on crowdfunding for Teita Leila to learn more about her experience.
How does your project impact Palestinian society?
Our direct impact is through the women we work with. We commission them in everything to make sure it is all Palestinian. In doing so, we empower Palestinian women to contribute to the economy. As a Palestinian startup, we are providing job opportunities for both young and old talent in Palestinian society. They now have a chance to work in a new, more challenging environment, which encourages them to think outside the box and be more creative.
How did crowdfunding help you reach your goals?
Crowdfunding was the starting point of the business. It allowed us to propel our operations forward. The funds collected were used to register the business, fix up our website for e-commerce, stock up our inventory, and market our collection to the world. Through this endeavor, we tested the waters and determined whether entering the embroidery market would be a good idea. It was also an opportunity to release our first collection.
How did you prepare for your crowdfunding campaign?
It took a lot of prep work, like committing money (20-30%) beforehand. We also had to talk to everyone from before, just to introduce the idea that we will be crowdfunding.
What’s one thing that surprised you during the campaign?
Almost everything. Everything will go wrong during the campaign, so you have to be prepared for the stress of the few months of the campaign. Nothing went according to plan.
What advice would you give to someone who is about to launch a campaign?
Just go for it. It’s a great experience and it has become a sort of ‘right-of-passage’ in life. It doesn’t matter whether you are successful at it, it is a great experience in the business world. But most importantly, you must be prepared and have a plan set up from months before.
The goal of their crowdfunding campaign was $25,000. However, just as the deadline of the campaign approached, a last minute donation pushed them past their goal by over ten thousand dollars, helping them gather just a little over $36,000!
It is projects like these that encourage the citizens of our society to just GO FOR IT! Crowdfunding is nothing to be intimidated by, and with a platform like BuildPalestine available to make it much more accessible, then why wouldn’t you?