Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF)

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) is a registered non-political, non-profit, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization that was established in 1991 by concerned people in the U.S. to address the medical and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian youths in the Middle East. It has since expanded to help suffering children from other Middle Eastern nations like Iraq, based only on their medical needs. The P.C.R.F. helps to locate free medical care for children from the Middle East who are unable to get the necessary and specialized treatment in their homeland.

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund Objectives

The main objective of the P.C.R.F. is to identify and treat every child in the Middle East in need of specialized surgery not available to them locally. We locate, sponsor and run volunteer medical missions to the Middle East in adult and pediatric cardiac surgery, pediatric cardiology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, maxillofacial surgery, pediatric urology, ophthalmology, vascular surgery, pediatric orthopedic surgery, occupational therapy, and other specialties. We also locate abroad free medical care for children who cannot be adequately treated in the Middle East. The P.C.R.F. is the main organization regularly sending injured and sick Arab children to North America, the Middle East and Europe for free care that is not available to them there. Since 1991 over 800 children have been or currently are being treated outside of the Middle East through the P.C.R.F.

The P.C.R.F. also helps to improve the quality of medical care in the Middle East by sending medical equipment and supplies to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The P.C.R.F. has also trained Palestinian surgeons so they can treat patients there and has sent American medical personnel to the region to treat difficult cases and train medical personnel in country.

The P.C.R.F. currently has several injured or sick Arab children in the U.S., the Middle East or Europe being treated for free. We are also working to locate free medical care for many more injured and sick children from Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq. We rely on the kindness of many volunteers throughout the U.S. who act as host families, volunteers and donors, enabling us to continue our humanitarian relief work.

A Closer Look at The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

Over the past 18 years, The PCRF has worked hard to become one of the most effective, highly accredited non-profit organizations working in the Middle East today. Using a modest yearly budget, The PCRF has been able to provide millions of dollars worth of specialized treatment and care for thousands of sick and injured children in need each year.

In 2008, over 3,000 children had expert medical tests, evaluations and screenings through our visiting missions, and over 1,000 had surgery or treatment for free. We also paid for over 150 children to have surgery in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Lebanon, and sent nearly 30 children abroad for free care, most of it requiring extended stays in hospitals and ICUs, resulting in millions of dollars worth of donated services.

The Value of Your Dollar

The PCRF does an excellent job of maximizing the value of each dollar donated by our generous donors. In 2008, we turned a donation of $1,000 into much needed relief worth nearly $62,000. That’s a 62:1 ratio!

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund accomplish this by:

• Keeping our administrative costs low.
• Working with doctors and hospitals thoughout the world who are willing to donate their time and services for free.
• Recruiting volunteer medical teams to travel oversees to perform surgeries, screenings, and training at no cost.
• Locating host families who are willing to house and care for the children during their treatment abroad.
  

Good Practice

The PCRF continues to follow and operate under the US Treasury Anti Terrorist Financing Guidelines. In fact, The PCRF was one of the first organizations working in Palestine to be given a license by the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control to continue our humanitarian work there after new restrictions were put in place for all US charities working in Palestine, as a result of the elections there.

Awards

The PCRF has won numerous awards throughout the years for our humanitarian efforts in the Middle East, including President Clinton’s “Yes, I Can” award, which was awarded to a triple-amputee.

http://www.pcrf.net