Our Shot: July 31, 2025
Welcome to the 16th edition of Our Shot, a weekly newsletter of actions that anyone (especially kids) can take to resist the Trump administration.
We're a day late today, largely because it's summer and our schedules are in chaos and I genuinely thought yesterday was Saturday until lunchtime, and also because Leo and I wanted to share actions to support Gaza this week and I didn't quite know where to begin.
Leo's vision for this newsletter was that it would be about resistance to Trump, and it's tempting for him (and for me) to fall into a thought pattern that treats Trump as the only bad guy. But the current famine in Gaza, which has been in the headlines more this past week, long predates the Trump administration. The UN was warning about a risk of starvation in October 2024, projecting a worse-case scenario in 2025 that we're now witnessing. So while the Trump administration is obviously not doing enough or really anything meaningful to address today's crisis (and slashed funding and agencies that might actually be able to take action...) we're still talking about what it means that leaders we supported and voted for are complicit as well.
With that in mind, it felt a little daunting to figure out concrete actions we could suggest this week, but we wanted to try. As always, please let us know if you have feedback or suggestions for us.
Smaller action: Get to know Ms. Rachel, a children's content creator and educator who makes popular learning videos. Months ago, Ms. Rachel began asking her viewers to pay attention to the children of Gaza, by telling their stories and calling attention to their suffering. Despite intense backlash and accusations of antisemitism, she has continued to advocate for the shared humanity of children and families around the world.
Mohammed R. Mhawish
Larger action: Make a donation to provide food to families in Gaza in need. We are sharing two options below - if you have others you would like us to highlight please email and we will make sure to include them next week. All of the organizations we've looked at are struggling with the same lack of basic food supplies to do their core work, but funds are still needed for infrastructure and things like water and medication distribution.
From Leo: "We are trying not to make too many of the weekly actions donations, since kids can't do that, but this is a time when we need to."
The Sameer Project: a donation-based aid initiative for Gaza led by Palestinians.
World Central Kitchen: a nonprofit providing food relief to communities in need around the world.
Do you have any ideas for actions people can take? Have you taken an action of resistance that you would like to share? Please email ctsvirsky@gmail.com to let us know - we would love to hear from you!
We are not throwing away our shot!
Leo & Charlotte