The Food Fund
There
is no food shortage in Israel, only a shortage of money with which to buy
it. A grant was given to Lev U'Neshama in October of 2002 with
the explicit command, that we "go feed the hungry." Not being aware
of the severity of the situation, we asked questions at our local
corner stores (makolets). The answers were truly shocking. One store
keeper was helping 25 families by providing food for those who couldn't
pay, (he said that as many as 100 families could use more help) while others
were allowing food to be purchased on credit. One store had actually
closed as he had given out so much credit that he was unable to pay his
bills.
Hearing all of this Lev U'Neshama got to work immediately and began to send out food parcels. With the help of one small neighborhood fruit and vegetable store, we sent each of 11 families a large box of fresh produce. The following month the list was expanded to 15: presently the flow of donations allows us to send one box of assorted food products to a total of 100 families per month. Even this one box relieves the family budget and is eagerly anticipated.
For Passover 2004 we provided 40 food parcels. For Passover 2005 we sent 100 parcels with sufficient food to take care of over 800 people. The growing numbers of families in need truly is of great concern.
Rabbis, social workers and others who work closely with the community recommend these families to us. When possible we try to contact each family in order to find out more about them and their situation. Many of the families find it extremely embarrassing to be in need of help. Until recently they were financially secure. However the recent economic downturn in Israel coupled with the cutback in social assistance has had a very negative impact. According to Israel National Insurance's statistics, the poverty level in Israel is growing. As many at 30% of our children may not be eating properly. This means that more than 600,000 children are not eating properly. Lack of basic foods causes malnutrition which affects both bones and teeth resulting in a variety of problems for the child and even into adulthood.
Your donation of $36 provides a food parcel containing three basics food items such as: flour, oil, sugar, salt, rice, noodles, legumes tuna, while mostly it is made up of fruits and vegetables which families on a limited income can't afford to buy.
Also, working with local storekeepers, we provide monthly payments to help reduce long overdue bills for selected families. This helps relieve the pressure on their food budgets and helps the storekeepers, who provide this credit, to stay in business.
