It only took a few seconds for 2-year-old Reema Rssa to lose her hand.At the rate things are… It only took a few seconds for 2-year-old Reema Rssa to lose her hand.At the rate things are going, it will take her parents more than a year to raise the money for a new one.

Last June, Reema put her hand in the meat grinder that her father, Mohammed Rssa, uses to slice meat for the gyros he sells off the back of Leena’s Foods, the food truck he operates in the parking lot between the Hillman and Carnegie libraries. Though Rssa hoped to buy a prosthetic hand for his daughter, such hands range from $7,000 for a basic model to $11,000 for a mechanical prosthetic – a cost Rssa’s insurance policy doesn’t cover.

“They said it was cosmetic,” Rssa said.

So Rssa decided to raise the money himself by collecting donations at the counter of Leena’s Foods.

“Most of the kids are students,” Rssa said of his customers, “and they don’t have much money.” Still, he has collected about $400 since he first began accepting donations in September.

Rssa, originally from Palestine, came to the United States four years ago. He and his wife have five children, including Reema. The youngest, Sarah, was born two weeks ago.

Rssa is uncertain how long it will take to raise the money for Reema’s hand.

“It’s a hard situation,” he said, “but that’s how life is.”

“We’re trying to help our daughter. Whatever possible, we will do.”