It is not often that we can arrange a face-to-face meeting between one of our good people and some of the many religious schools that send us their tzedakah dollar bills and change. For our Israel programs this is even harder to do. But, when Alison Bermant, a teacher at North Shore Synagogue told us that she was going to Israel and wanted to meet Darla Oz, founder of House to House, we quickly made the connection.

We have mentioned Darla’s work with very poor people in Jerusalem many times. A few months ago we asked several religious schools if they would create personal birthday cards for the Survivors Darla was involved with and Alison’s class was among the first to send a beautiful set of cards. Now that Alison was going to Israel she wanted to meet Darla face-to-face and deliver a second batch of cards as well as some much-need tzedakah.

As you can see from the picture, Darla and Alison did meet and soon after Darla was putting those dollar bills and coins to immediate use when she bought new clothes for an elderly man who she recently discovered living alone in sub-standard conditions.

Talk about an immediate return on your tzedakah investment!

Yasher koach to Alison and her North Shore students!

A few days ago we shared with our readers the story of the student activists in Quincy, MA. and how our tzedakah investment helps them achieve their tikkun olam goals of changing the world. Read on to see how our gifts of stamps and office supplies were received. No question that this is one of the "biggest bangs for the tzedakah buck" that we get!

Dear Naomi,

YES!!!!!

The box from Staples arrived promptly, containing EVERYTHING on our Wish list. The box was promptly opened and the tools it contained were put into use immediately as the kids made posters for spreading the word inside the school about this year’s projects: Haiti relief and homes/families for Ethiopian Orphans. Letters were also written to communicate with our 2009-2010 partners in these efforts: Partners in Health; St. Boniface Haiti Foundation and Selamta/Ethiopia. It has been hectic at Broad Meadows Middle School since the arrival of all that colorful, artistic effort and letter writing action.

Before the box was opened, I asked grade 8 leaders Julie Bloomer, Matt Baldwin and Brandi Isaacs to explain to the after school activism group why we were getting box mail. Brandi in particular told of the long history between The Quincy Kids and Danny, Naomi, Ziv and The Good People Fund. Brandi is quite aware of the history. I was very proud of her telling. I added a few stories as well. The students were humbled.

Then, the boxes were opened.

The tools inside the Staples boxes and USPS envelope were greeted with cheers as Matt and Brandi carefully removed them one by one. I’ve never seen envelopes and white out get cheers before, but now I can say it did happen. Out came markers, highlighters, pens, stamps, poster board, and more. Yippees and oh yeahs filled the air. Each tool’s potential energy was cheered. Then a surprise was removed from the box: candy and pretzels! For the remainder of the 90 minute meeting, the room was filled with the sounds of kids working in groups, tools in hand and candy in mouths. When I walked around the classroom admiring the letters and posters, several students told me they were thinking about how lucky Broad Meadows Middle School is. Broad Meadows invites students to try to change the world each school year. My favorite was this: "Strangers send office tools so students can spread the word inside and outside the school that change is possible."

You will soon receive a thank you from the Broad Meadows students. In the meantime, please accept my sincerest thanks for igniting a frenzy of awareness raising on paper and on poster board.

Thank you so very much for your unwavering belief in, encouragement and support of The Quincy Kids who are dedicated to improving children’s lives far away every school year. Without your help, that goal would be much more difficult to achieve.

Gratefully,

Ron Adams, teacher advisor
The Quincy Kids: A School for Iqbal
and
Operation: Day’s Work-USA

With the last hamantaschen crumbs finally swept away, we knew what would come next….Passover, matzah and all that goes with it.

Nothing felt better today than making arrangements to send thousands of dollars to the Rabbanit Kapach’s "matzah man" in Israel. Though we have lost track of the actual number of years, we suspect that she has been distributing her Pesach food packages for close to 50 years and if you were to count the number of people in Jerusalem who have benefited, we believe that the number must be high into six figures, perhaps greater. Matzah, oil, nuts and more…the basics for a sweet holiday that is so centered on food that without this help so many people would not experience its joy.

Along with this very special tzedakah "investment", we also completed arrangements for the purchase of thousands of dollars of supermarket scrip which will go directly to dozens of needy families in Israel as well as to several Holocaust survivors here in the United States.

It was really a good day in the tzedakah business. Now-if only I could find someone to do my shopping…

In 2006, Gloria Baker Feinstein was already an accomplished photographer but had decided to direct her considerable skills to documentation for non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). To further that goal she found herself in Uganda visiting orphanage after orphanage, each filled with children left on their own after AIDS had decimated what they knew as family. The images that Gloria captured on that trip were not soon forgotten when she returned to her Kansas City home and family.

Within a short time Gloria knew that she had to do something – the children’s images and the seeming desperation of their lives could not be erased from either her mind or her camera. In 2007 she began Change the Truth, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the 190 children who now call St. Mary Kevin Orphanage Motherhood home.

Change the Truth and its dedicated volunteers are committed to the welfare of these children and do so in the most direct, effective and hands-on manner possible. In addition to the funds sent to underwrite food, medical needs, clothing and other basics, the children’s education is a central part of their focus. About two dozen young people are provided with scholarships to underwrite their secondary education and one is even studying nursing. Others are provided vocational training and opportunities to ensure stability in their lives.

There are several things about CTT that we found to be particularly outstanding and helped us decide to offer Good People Fund’s support. When we initially asked Gloria for more information about her work we were pleasantly surprised and impressed to receive a comprehensive log which records all donations sent to the orphanage and receipts for the items those donations covered. We also saw reports and updates for all of the scholarship students assuring that they were taking their studies seriously and proceeding according to plan. Equally impressive was the fact that Gloria and her volunteers travel to Uganda every year and while there perform critical hands-on work to benefit the kids and the orphanage. This type of transparency is vitally important to us and our donors when we become involved in a program that is so far away and where we may not have the opportunity to see the work first-hand.

In our conversation with Gloria prior to last December’s trip we asked where our tzedakah money might make the greatest impact and she shared plans of upgrading the school’s computer lab with some used computers which had just been donated to them. When I asked her if a new laptop would be of interest, Gloria was thrilled. We were so pleased to see not only the new computer we underwrote but also the happy faces that were obviously enjoying the benefits of this new tool.

We suggest you visit http://changethetruth.org to see first-hand Gloria’s beautiful images and very special work. If you are impressed with what they are doing we also suggest you purchase a copy of Gloria’s beautiful book, Kutuuka, in which her photographs chronicle the dreams and drawings of these beautiful children.

Last August we shared our excitement about AmpleHarvest.org, the creation of Gary Oppenheimer, a New Jersey-based master gardener who realized that the bounty of backyard gardens could become a meaningful source of healthy food for our nation’s food pantries and soup kitchens.

In the past six months we have been dazzled by the strides Gary has made in advancing AmpleHarvest.org’s mission. The number of food pantries and soup kitchens that have joined AmpleHarvest.org’s registry has grown exponentially… AmpleHarvest.org was recently recognized by the US Department of Agriculture and, the one advance we are most excited about is the new iPhone app which allows gardeners to locate nearby pantries and kitchens that would welcome their extra harvest. The app was made possible with a grant from the Good People Fund and when we tried it we were really impressed! Imagine standing in your garden, pulling out your iPhone and locating a nearby facility to take your tomatoes, cukes and other fresh produce. We know this investment will go a long way in helping to feed the more than 49 million Americans who are currently struggling to find enough food.

Even Business Week picked up the story…http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/news/article.asp?docKey=600-201001281758KRTRIB__BUSNEWS_26550-49E0JPEPCMF3N7R55321ASSK5O&params=timestamp%7C%7C01/28/2010%205:58%20PM%20ET%7C%7Cheadline%7C%7CBRIEF%3A%20iPhone%20app%20connects%20growers%2C%20food%20pantries%3A%20Program%20uses%20the%20phone’s%20built-in%20GPS%20system.%20%5BThe%20News-Sentinel%2C%20Fort%20Wayne%2C%20Ind.%5D%7C%7CdocSource%7C%7CThe%20McClatchy%20Company%7C%7Cprovider%7C%7CACQUIREMEDIA&ticker=AAPL:US )

Further confirming our satisfaction was one app user who recently wrote:

This app is really well designed. What a great program! Attractive! Easy to use! It throws a bunch of push pins into a Google map to locate all local food pantries. AmpleHarvest.org promises to regularly update as they are sent info on additional food panties. This could easily become a means for the hungry to get wholesome food from their neighbor’s surplus — everywhere in America! If you have ever gardened, you know that there comes a time when there are just too many cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. Won’t this app come in handy!…

We firmly believe that when you want something done, particularly the almost-impossible, you ask kids to do it because they never stop to think that it might be impossible or even nearly-impossible. They JUST DO IT!

The kids we have written about many times in this diary are the students at Broad Meadows Middle School in Quincy, MA. The Quincy Kids have been involved in student activism and improving the lives of children around the world since they first met Iqbal Masih, a young Pakistani child who had been indentured as a rug weaver and spent his days tied to a loom, creating beautiful carpets. Once hearing Iqbal’s story and then learning of his subsequent murder, Broad Meadows students and their dedicated teacher, Ron Adams, vowed to change the world. Over the years we have always offered them the tools to allow them to carry out their work. We had not heard from the kids since school began last September and then, just this afternoon, we received the following email from Ron Adams. Read on–Ron’s words never fail to warm the heart and give you hope for a better world…

Hello Naomi,

Operation Day’s Work (aka The Quincy Kids’ Campaign)
Broad Meadows Middle School
Quincy, MA USA

How could we not help these kids? The needs are modest and the impact so great in so many different ways. The orders have already been placed and when the kids return to school on Monday they will have all the tools they need to begin their newest project–helping Ethiopian orphans gain a better life.