Israel
Quilt delivery in Israel
Dateline Sderot – OneFamily Fund and the gift of quilts from Temple Israel (pdf)
Today we delivered the quilts to Harel Moyel to go to the needy families in Jerusalem. Also delivered were baby bibs and pacifiers as well as about 40 small stuffed toys.
Harel was most appreciative. As you know, he thinks the quilts are really something special and offers more than just warmth to babies but also support from Jews half way around the world to families in Israel.
He sends many, many thanks to all the people on the 'quilting crew' and the support of Temple Israel.
Annette Paquin
Keren B’Kavod
As many of you know, the past 2 years Temple Israel has sols soup at our festival celebrations raising almost $8500 for “B’Kavod Ladle”. Below is a report from Anat Hoffman of IRAC updating us on the work of Keren B’Kavod in Israel.
This summer, our humanitarian aid project, Keren B’Kavod, which means literally the “Dignity Fund”, has been very active living up to its name. Most commonly when people think of humanitarian aid they think of food, but we have been committed to giving children and their families opportunities for fun and culture that they so rarely, if ever, experience - as it is written: “A person does not live on bread alone,” Deut. 8.3.
One of the groups that Keren B’Kavod provides for is families with children who have special needs and single parent families from S’derot, a small development town bordering Gaza that has suffered greatly from rocket attacks. Keren B’Kavod treated 60 of these families to an “Evening in Jerusalem,” complete with a theater performance, food and games, and visits to Jerusalem’s holy sites. For many of them, it was their first time ever visiting Jerusalem. Also just this past weekend, Keren B’Kavod held a “summer fun day” for struggling new immigrant families, providing them with a full day at the Safari animal park.
B’Kavod’s clients fully represent the enormous diversity of religious and ethnic backgrounds throughout Israel. Much of what made these days so special was not only that they were a rare experience for these underprivileged children, but even more importantly, a unique opportunity for the whole family to have fun together. Several parents told us that this was the first time they had spent the whole day in a planned activity with their children.
Another group that Keren B’Kavod works with is impoverished women raising children alone from one of Jerusalem’s absolute poorest neighborhoods. B’Kavod runs an empowerment course on women’s and children’s health, education, and family issues. The year-long program recently culminated with a celebration for the women, with karaoke, dancing, food, and a review of all the accomplishments the women achieved over the past year.
All summer Keren B’Kavod has continued to provide food and supplies to some of the neediest families throughout Israel with the help of many congregations visiting from North America and the UK, as well as NFTY and Netzer groups.
B’Kavod is now working with Reform congregations and volunteers across Israel to collect food to distribute to the needy for the fall holidays. Every year they collect and package roughly 7 tons of food which is then distributed to thousands of families across Israel.
Anat Hoffman
