Here in the Northeast cooler weather has finally arrived. In Tel Aviv a similar change to lower temperatures has also kicked in and that has gotten our friend Gideon Ben Ami thinking about a new and healthier way to help feed hungry people. Gideon spends a good part of his day driving from bakeries to supermarkets and other food purveyors, picking up donations of leftovers which he immediately delivers to local shelters in the area.

While the breads and cakes and bourekas he collects can certainly serve as nourishment for people who have little to eat, the carbs and sugar are most definitely not the healthiest fare to offer. A restaurateur for most of his life, Gideon decided that a rich, flavorful soup would be so much healthier and so he purchased several large soup pots and enlisted a group of volunteer “soup-makers” who have agreed to prepare at least one batch weekly (some are doing even more). The soup is then delivered to the appropriate shelter.

Word has it that this new experiment has received a very positive response. At a cost of less than 30 shekels (less than $10), a healthy alternative food choice is now available. Judging by this picture Gideon just sent we cannot help but agree. It sure doesn’t look like Campbell’s!

I am in awe of the generosity and compassion of Good People (Fund). Your efforts help to save people’s lives. By standing with families in their darkest and most humiliating moments you give people the strength and the grace to surmount obstacles.

Thank you, thank you.

No doubt the news that comes from our nation’s capital these past few weeks have left most of us scratching our heads in disbelief and frustration.

An email that arrived late last night has served as a stark reminder of how difficult life can be for families living “in the corners”— where each step is a struggle and where the slightest upset can bring down a tenuous stability.

The request came from an attorney who works as a public defender. We have interacted with her several times and are always stunned by the needs she comes across and how relatively small sums of money can have such a profound impact. This situation was no different. A single father raising three young children on his own, one of whom has a serious mental illness, is evicted from his apartment and forced to bring his young family to a homeless shelter. In the rush to relocate he is forced to place some of the family’s belongings in a storage facility since the shelter limits personal items. Under normal circumstances, public assistance will pay for the storage costs but in this case the bureaucracy failed when the caseworker who handled the claim never filed for payment. With a notice from the storage company that all of his personal items were to be auctioned off in a few days, it seemed as if there was no solution — until we were called and asked if we could help. Within two hours we had all of the documentation we needed and called the storage company to pay the outstanding balance.

 Some might say the  items in storage were only “things.” When you have lost just about everything else sometimes “things” are really so much more.

Tucked away in a remote spot near Israel’s Dead Sea is a hidden reserve called Einot Tsukim—actually the lowest nature reserve in the world. Filled with pools of natural spring water, we can think of no better place for a group of kids  from Camp Shutaf to escape to during their summer camp experience last month.

When Miriam Avraham and Beth Steinberg, Shutaf’s dedicated founders wrote asking if the Good People Fund could possibly cover the cost of a bus that would take the kids on this special outing, who could say no?

The pictures just arrived and it appears that the kids had the best time. Our only regret? Why couldn’t we have been there, too?

Something about this picture which was sent early this morning by the Gabriel Project Mumbai has captivated us…the colors? The look of hope on the women’s faces, perhaps? Or, is it just stunning because it represents one more success for Jacob Sztokman’s dream of helping to alleviate the extreme poverty of Mumbai’s slums? Women’s empowerment groups (those smiling faces) receive micro-credit funding to purchase the ingredients for the meals they prepare daily for the 500 children in the program. These nutritious lunches are the only complete meal the kids may get that day. Now, rather than cook in their individual homes, the women have a central kitchen in which to work and perhaps, even expand their operation allowing for even greater improvement of their own family’s well-being.

Perhaps you’d like to help the Good People Fund purchase some of the utensils the women will need in their food preparation?

Sometimes even when we are kicking back on vacation we get an email that we just have to share.

Music and Memory, started by social worker Dan Cohen,  is one of the Good People Fund’s new programs (this past year) that brings personalized music via iPods to elderly individuals suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s and other isolating conditions, living in nursing homes and other settings. The music taps deep memories and enables the listener to reconnect to the world, often with dramatic results.

CNN recently featured a short piece on the magic that is Music and Memory and we would love to share it with you…http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2013/08/21/t-ipod-music-memory.cnnmoney.

Enjoy!

For “Solomon,”  life was coming to an end at Jerusalem’s St. Louis French Hospital, a small and historic facility that cares for mostly terminal or chronically ill patients. Though he had acquired many close friends through his life in Israel, “Solomon” had no family and as the end neared it was Rabbi Miriam Berkowitz from Kashouvot who came to visit and offer support. As I read Miriam’s account of her visit with “Solomon” I was both moved by the beautiful heartfelt words she shared with someone whose life was waning, and also stunned to realize that what she was doing was a rare occurrence in a country where rabbis are in abundance and we would expect end-of-life pastoral care to be the norm.

For Miriam and her friend and co-founder, Rabbi Valerie Stessin starting Kashouvot was the culmination of their wish to bring “together our skills, passions and interests with a deep need in Israel for opening meaningful Jewish experiences to a wider range of people.” The two chose the Hebrew word “Kashouvot” which translates to “attentive” in English. Put simply, pastoral care begins with attentive listening and that is what they and their small staff provide to hospital and home hospice patients, residents in nursing homes, and others.

With the help of a Good People Fund grant and additional matching funds, Kashouvot has now started an additional program at Hadassah Hospital as well as at a nursing home further north.

Lest we think that all that they do is associated with death and dying, we were thrilled when we heard their story about the wedding that they facilitated for two nursing home residents (aged 78 and 85). Between the bride and groom and the home’s staff, there wasn’t a dry eye to be found anywhere!