Hands of Peace, a nonprofit that has been hosting summer dialogue sessions of Israeli, Palestinian and American youth for more than two decades, is preparing to close at a time when war is once again dominating headlines out of the Middle East.
Leaders of the Glenview, Illinois nonprofit began mulling closure after funding, volunteerism and leadership failed to recover as hoped following the pandemic. “Contrary to the war being the cause of why we’re closing, it’s actually almost the exact opposite,” Executive Director Debby Fosdick told The NonProfit Times. “The discussion about closing had already been underway very seriously for almost a year. Then October 7th happened, and we all agreed it would be unconscionable to completely walk away from our 840 alumni at a time when they most needed us.”
Among the group’s alumni is a 19-year-old female, Naama Levy, who has been held hostage in Gaza since being abducted along with more than 240 others during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre. In the wake of the carnage, which took more than 1,200 lives, several Hands of Peace board members have been contributing their own funds to tide the group over financially through the end of March while leaders continue the search for another peacebuilding organization to “adopt” her and the other alumni. Any remaining assets will likely be turned over to that organization as well, Fosdick said.
Formed after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States, Hands of Peace began with a mission to empower young people as peacebuilders and changemakers in their communities. The founders came from multiple faith traditions with hopes of building bridges across ethnic and religious lines for the teen participants, many of whom had never before had an opportunity to meaningfully connect with peers from other backgrounds.
“For many of them, who were raised to see each other as enemies, it was their first time ever having a safe space to engage, have fun with each other, talk about their lives, and talk about the hardships they experience,” Fosdick said. “But it was never our objective to teach them anything political. Hands of Peace has never taken a political position other than we believe in peace and in everyone’s right to freedom and justice.”
The program initially enlisted host families in the Chicago area and later grew to include a second location in San Diego, both of which received annual cohorts of a few dozen participants each for three-week summer sessions followed by subsequent meetups in person or online throughout the year. A team of trained Israeli and Arab facilitators conducted the sessions with additional help from youth volunteers who had already been through the program.
From its beginnings as a mostly volunteer-driven organization, the group grew to become more professionalized with seven full-time staff at last count. Fundraising has been an ongoing challenge, however. “A lot of corporations have matching gift programs and donate to nonprofits, but the hot-potato nature of Israel-Palestine has made that a hard nut for us to crack because they see it as something that makes them uncomfortable,” Fosdick said.
The fate of the 19-year-old being held hostage continues to weigh heavily on the minds of Hands of Peace leaders. Millions around the world saw her in blood-soaked clothing being dragged by her hair and forced out of the back of a vehicle with her hands tied in widely circulated video footage filmed by her captors on the day of the attacks. “I did not personally meet Naama because she was with the San Diego program last year, and I was only in Chicago that summer,” Fosdick said. “But I’ve talked to other people in San Diego who did meet her, and she was very loved by everyone including her fellow alumni who absolutely adored her. She apparently was a sweet, kind, rather soft-spoken young lady with a real commitment to social justice.”
Leaders initially worried that calling attention to her plight might increase the risk to her safety but have gradually begun speaking out more with her family’s permission. “We’re continuing to work through whatever back channels we can to try to appeal to the hostage negotiators to advocate on her behalf. And frankly, everybody’s praying a lot,” Fosdick said.
