Humanitarian Projects for Peace

Humanitarian Projects for Peace implements Iraqi-led and American-funded rebuilding and humanitarian initiatives in areas of need in Iraq. IARP’s projects adapt each year to the changing needs in Iraq. Your support will mean that one-of-a-kind projects are made possible.  Below are a few of our recent campaigns.

Ramadan Food Baskets

Food insecurity continues to rise in Iraq, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our food basket campaign provides families with Ramadan staples such as chicken, dates, cheese, tea, flour, rice, beans, lentils, sugar, salt, vermicelli, tomato paste, juice, and vegetable oil. With the generosity of our community, and the hard work of many volunteers, we gifted food baskets to 100 families in Baghdad during Ramadan in 2021. Thanks to the generosity of Target, our partner Sun Market, and a private donor, 100 Muslim families in the Twin Cities also received Ramadan food baskets.

In 2022, we aim to provide at least 400 families in cities across Iraq with baskets of food. Learn more here.

Minnesotans Share the Warmth

More than 1.5 million internally displaced Iraqis face cold and rainy conditions in winter and experience a lack of durable shelter and heating. In partnership with the Iraqi NGO the Critical Needs Support Foundation, IARP held a winter clothing drive to collect winter coats, winter accessories, and shoes for vulnerable Iraqi and Syrian families preparing for the winter months.

Books for Mosul

Once a major center of learning in the Middle East, the library at the University of Mosul was destroyed by ISIS when they occupied the city in June 2014.  The militants methodically burned nearly all of the one million books, manuscripts, and historic maps. One of the finest libraries in the Middle East was burned to the ground.

IARP held our first book drive in 2018 to restore the library as a credible resource center and our volunteers donated, collected, sorted, and shipped over 10,000 university level textbooks to the University of Mosul.  Our shipment also included 5,000 pairs of reading glasses donated by the Veterans for Peace in Boulder, CO.  Book donations for this important project came from individuals, schools, and universities from across Minnesota and 18 different states, including Puerto Rico.  

Hygiene and Dignity Kits for Displaced Families in Mosul

Starting in 2016, IARP began partnering with the Iraqi non-profit Critical Needs Support Foundation to focus on the pressing needs of communities displaced by ISIS.  To support families and prevent the spread of disease in vulnerable areas, we sent funds for hundreds of “hygiene kits” and “dignity kits” for women and children in the northern regions of Iraq and winterized 10 homes in Mosul.

Basra Children’s Orchestra

Also in 2016, IARP was delighted to connect with the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq (NYOI) to help launch a new children’s orchestra in Basra, Iraq. Thanks to local donors and arts organizations, we were able to send over $6,000 of donated musical instruments and accessories including three violins, string instrument bows and strings, instrument cases, a flute, and woodwind reeds.  

Clean Water

Together with the Iraqi non-profit organization Muslim Peacemaker Teams, IARP donors provided water filters and maintenance support to provide clean water to tens of thousands of students and one teaching hospital in Najaf under the Water for Peace program (2009-2015).