TentEd was created to support existing efforts to provide education (and a little joy) to Syrian refugee children, starting in the camps in northern Iraq. Fortunately children are able to attend school in the camps, but many are doing so without what we would consider the basics - backpacks and notebooks- and teachers are instructing class without any teaching aids or material. This adds up and impacts the quality of education they are receiving.One of Zack's first friends in the camps, Hassan Azadeen Ayoub, is an assistant principal of an elementary school in Gawilan Refugee Camp, an hour drive outside of Erbil, Iraq. Hassan asked Zack for pretty specific help: 250 backpacks, a handful of shelves for the storage room and help fixing a leaking toilet. All these items -- the backpacks, the shelves and the leaking toilet -- needed to be addressed immediately. An investment of a just few thousand dollars would make school more pleasant for 250 children, the courtyard smell a whole lot better, and Hassan a happier assistant principal.

While other NGOs in the area are doing good work, they aren't set up to do smaller scale support, which is why TentEd was created to fill this specific gap. TentEd is not looking to duplicate work that is already being done. Our goal is to complement the efforts of the established organizations and meet a set of narrow needs defined by the beneficiaries themselves. We at TentEd see ourselves as a small but essential part of a larger effort, an effort requiring gears of all sizes to effectively provide real and lasting support to a vital cause. When you donate to TentEd, we guarantee that your generosity goes directly into a classroom. The impact will be immediate.