August 03, 2008

A Well Deserved Mazal Tov

On July 21 we described a fabulous Bar Mitzvah project that benefited the work of The Forgotten People Fund-an all-volunteer group that helps many Ethiopians who have settled in the city of Netanya. We have always been proud of the work that we do with the group-they are all-volunteer and almost 100% of the funds they raise are directed to helping families and individuals with the most basic of needs-school costs, food, training, clothing, health-they are a lifesaver for so many in that city.

So–it was no surprise when I opened this morning’s email from Aida Miller who, along with her husband Rabbi Yosef Miller, and friends, Anne and David Silverman, were the founders of The Forgotten People Fund, and read the following:

On Thursday evening (July 31st) our Forgotten People Fund was honored by the Mayor of Netanya, Miriam Fierberg, with an award for outstanding volunteer service for the year 2008. It was significant because Netanya is celebrating its 80th anniversary, Israel is celebrating its 60th anniversary, and FPF is celebrating its 10th anniversary. There were over five hundred people in attendance and afterwards we were surrounded by the social workers we work with, representatives of the Senior Citizens Dept., Ethiopians from the Or Ganim Gardening Cooperative that we helped establish and family and friends. I was overwhelmed by the expressions of gratitude and I wept a little because my husband. Yosef, couldn’t be with us to hear all the accolades. He was the one who started the idea of helping the Ethiopian community and it is sad that he couldn’t be there to see how much our work is appreciated.

Mazal Tov to all of the FPF volunteers who work so selflessly on behalf of Netanya’s Ethiopian community. We can’t wait for the 20th anniversary celebration!

August 01, 2008

Terror – Then and Now

Nothing can erase the very vivid memories we have of Israel and the five or six year period that began in the year 2000. With what seemed to be an almost daily occurrence, turning on the morning news brought word of another attack that killed and maimed so many. While the frequency of such attacks has certainly diminished, how many of us NOW…TODAY stop to think about those who either personally survived an attack or lost a loved one in such an attack? How are they managing, years later? Does the trauma ever go away? Can they resume a "normal" life?

In an exchange I had this past week with Karyn London, a social worker who works with terror survivors through Atzum, (http://www.atzum.org) a fine Israel-based organization that has been on the front-lines helping people for many years, I learned that indeed, life doesn’t really return to "normal" for so many. Karyn shared so much critical information. Here are just short insights that she related from a recent seminar held for professionals in the mental health field:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: so many people have never recovered from this and more and more is being learned about its effects…the inability to sustain relationships (even with family members), how parents have difficulty interacting with their children and intimacy is affected; how it is very difficult for a child to feel loved (what they need most) when the parent is just not there for them. We see lots of children whose parents were injured who are doing poorly in school, … about how their coping mechanisms are deflated, the constant fear many live with as they "relive the attack" with many daily activities via their senses such as noises and smells. Imagine that any loud noise from a building site being developed might make a woman working as a secretary in a nearby office jump and shake and then render her unable to concentrate or even go to work the next day. Imagine the man who can’t go in a kitchen, restaurant… as anything that is even mildly burnt attacks his sense of smell taking him back to the Pigua (attack) and the smell of burning.

In terms of help for these people, Karyn shared that though National Insurance does a lot "there are many people who do not get services and of those who do there are many things that are not provided."

A Case in Point From A Prior Terror Attack

R.S. was injured several years ago when she was riding in a bus that was blown up. She sustained severe injuries to her eyes which cannot be reversed. At the time, she worked successfully in a full-time position and is fortunate that her employer has allowed her to keep her job despite the fact that she often misses work due to loss of sleep and general distress.

Her husband is employed full-time and goes to school as well. Their relationship has suffered as a result of the attack and with the diminished income they will not be able to help their son continue his education at a nearby college. Their daughter has also felt the effects of the attack as the mother has difficulty being close to her. The daughter has now dropped out of high school and is involved with drugs.

Terror Now

Karyn’s email also included information relating to the current situation. What is happening to people who live in Sderot today? How are they coping with the almost daily barrage of rocket attacks? As Karyn shared:

Sderot is an entirely different problem. These families and children do not only have Post Trauma but are living in continuous trauma. They have had their homes and schools hit by rockets, some have physical injuries and others have the symptoms of Post Trauma like fear of loud noises, sleeplessness, general agitation or the inability to function normally or carry on healthy relationships with family members. Despite the many efforts to help them, they are exposed again and again day and night. In many cases the therapeutic interventions are not enough or just can’t beat the continuous stress. One woman I spoke to told me she never took an aspirin and now lives on tranquilizers.

I was told another story by a social worker about a young mother who always kept her home immaculate. Now she is afraid to wash her floor because she fears that while washing the floor there will be an attack and because the floor is wet one of the children will slip and get hurt. Now she gets up at 4:30 in the morning to do the floor because she knows that this is a quiet time when there are generally no rockets. The social worker in this case is concerned about how tired this woman is and the lack of energy she has for her kids every day.

Most families sleep and spend most of their day in the same room the "safe room" -this as you can imagine, puts additional strain on familial relations and the added lack of privacy for the parents.

The bottom line is that most of the families in Sderot have been affected- many already have a 20% disability and many more are waiting to be approved. This doesn’t however relieve us from helping those that have yet to be taken in by the system. (these people have at the minimum a temporary percentage of disability assigned to them).

A Case in Point From Sderot

She is considered one of the best teachers in the area and is well liked by her neighbors, her students and their parents. She is under the care of a psychiatrist and is in therapy with a social worker. Though she is determined to overcome the trauma, her family which was once economically successful is now forced to live on half of what they were earning before. L. cannot work every day and her husband often takes time off from his job to be with her. Many things that they were able to do for their children before, they can no longer provide, which has led to a lot of distress within the family. Even privacy is now a problem as the entire family must sleep in the "safe room" each night in the event that there is a rocket attack.

The bottom line is that this family which was entirely self supporting and actually high contributing members of their community are now dependent upon the system. A very sad situation…

What can we do? How do we help those people whose lives will never be the same? The Good People Fund is sending further funds to help both people in Sderot and those who were affected by past terror attacks. We invite anyone who wants to help in this effort to send their donation along with a note that it is to be used to help terror victims in Israel.

July 28, 2008

Christmas (or Hanukkah) in July Part 2

On July 17 we told you about Jeannie Jaybush and Baby Corner in Seattle and further reported that aside from sending Jeannie the new toys that we were fortunate to come by, we also send nursing bras for many of the new mothers who are being helped by Baby Corner.

As we noted, the bras are a tremendous help and have truly changed the lives of so many new mothers and their babies. Last week we sent a new shipment to Jeannie and just received the following email:

Hi Naomi!

Jeannie

Who says that this job does not provide a lot of light moments?

July 25, 2008

Food Rescue a la Rock and Wrap it Up!

Syd Mandelbaum, the dynamic founder of Rock and Wrap It Up! (http://www.rockandwrapitup.org), sent along his latest e-newsletter today and we can’t help but be impressed by the ongoing work that Syd and his small staff carry out in their quest to help relieve hunger in this world. This is just the latest of Syd’s accomplishments.

As Syd says at the end of his message… Today, The Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 to feed the hungry, tomorrow the rest of the world!

We have no doubt that Syd and Rock and Wrap it Up! will be there to do it!

The Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 was signed into law last month by President Bush.

Rock and Wrap It Up! researched, created and was able to get the Bill through the House unanimously passed in 31 days. It was introduced in the Senate in February and was unanimously passed May 22, 2008.

Rock and Wrap it Up! will work with the GSA to help roll out the program. We are meeting with the GSA and representatives from Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Emerson’s offices, its sponsors in the Senate and house.

With the dire need because of empty pantries across America, the faster the Law can be implemented, the faster pantries and agencies will have more food to give.

Summary of Act:

This Act may be cited as the ‘Federal Food Donation Act of 2008’. (We call it the Rock and Wrap It Up! Act)

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

The purpose of this Act is to encourage executive agencies and contractors of executive agencies, to the maximum extent practicable and safe, to donate excess, apparently wholesome food to feed food-insecure people in the United States.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) APPARENTLY WHOLESOME FOOD- The term ‘apparently wholesome food’ has the meaning given the term in section 2(b) of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 1791(b)).

(2) EXCESS – The term ‘excess’, when applied to food, means food that —

(A) is not required to meet the needs of executive agencies; and

(B) would otherwise be discarded.

(3) FOOD-INSECURE – The term ‘food-insecure’ means inconsistent access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.

(4) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION- The term ‘nonprofit organization’ means any organization that is —

(A) described in section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and

(B) exempt from tax under section 501(a)

Today, The Federal Food Donation Act of 2008 to feed the hungry, tomorrow the rest of the world!

July 21, 2008

Hoop Dreams

Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids never cease to amaze us with the originality of their mitzvah project creations. Some time ago we spoke with a family in Kansas…the Bar Mitzvah boy was a huge basketball fan and wanted to use that interest in some way to help kids in Israel. He also had some friends who wanted to join in the effort so we suggested a possible connection to The Forgotten People Fund-an all-volunteer group that works in Netanya where there is a large Ethiopian population, most living in very poor surroundings. The FPF volunteers, led by our friends Aida Miller and Anne and David Silverman, establish personal relationships with many individuals and families and help provide them with so many needs-food, education costs, health education, clothing…the list is endless and they truly make a difference. When we put the boys in touch with Aida it did not take long before they came up with a plan. With the funds the boys would raise, a court that had fallen into disrepair at a nearby school in Netanya could be rehabilitated with working lights, resurfacing and possible seating. In addition, the boys purchased 30 basketball jerseys with the team name printed on them and these were hand-delivered to Aida this summer when a local Rabbi traveled to Israel. As one of the boy’s mothers recently wrote …this was a winner of a project all the way around:

Valerie’s boys raised money by hosting mini basketball camps at their home. Mothers in the neighborhood paid the twins to watch their children for a few hours and play basketball with them. Jake and Ethan raised money by "flipping" for FPF. They made a poster highlighting the efforts of FPF and the Ethiopians it serves. They gave a brief introduction about their project, and then collected money from participants at various Jewish events in the community. They played a short game (using a coin flip) and gave the winner a small prize. (The game is actually very clever, so I’ll be happy to provide more details if you need them.)

The bottom line is that the boys raised over $500 on their own. They each decided to donate a percentage of their monetary gifts as well. We hope to send you a check for over $1,000, and the boys are so proud of themselves. We’ve sent photos to Aida of the boys, and she’s sent us photos of the Ethiopian youth. It’s been a wonderful sharing kind of experience. Ethan has expressed to me that he hopes to go to Israel someday soon to see the fruits of his labors and play basketball with the Sapir team!

Yasher koach boys!

July 17, 2008

Christmas (or Hanukkah) in July and More …

A few weeks ago a friend came upon a fabulous collection of brand new kids’ toys…everything still boxed and sure to make a child happy. She called me asking if we knew of a good home for these special treats.

Of course, this was not a difficult task to complete. I sent an email to my friend Jeannie Jaybush at Baby Corner and she was more than happy to help find good homes for five cartons of stuffed animals, toys, dolls, puzzles and so much more. Baby Corner in Seattle serves as a resource for local social services who deal with families (with few economic resources) that have a new baby and cannot afford many of the items needed to help with caring for a new infant.

Today, Jeannie wrote to let us know that the boxes arrived and, as usual, they were a real hit!

Also, yesterday about Noon the boxes arrived! … One of the RN’s was here picking up something else & got that "oh goody" look in her eyes when I started to open them. She took 3 of the toys for the siblings of some of the babies that are with Mom in treatment. … She’s usually here 2-3 times each week for "stuff" for the babies, hopeful that there’s "stuff" for the older siblings, or something for Mom to try to get her in to treatment… It’s a real difficult caseload & the outcomes are often less than ideal. Lots of jail time, taking the baby away from Mom, mental health problems (she’s even had to talk women off the high bridges where they were going to jump to commit suicide), and of course, baby deaths. So, the toys are going out the door less than 10 minutes after delivery! The rest will follow shortly I’m sure

Thanks again for the toys. Nobody has had new toys since Christmas & the kids are thrilled with anything. The dollies will be especially loved. I’m off to count teddy bears etc!

One of the other ways we enjoy helping Jeannie and the new mothers is by providing them with nursing bras. Who would have thought? Jeannie tells us that a proper nursing bra is almost unheard of…the cost is prohibitive for poor women, but the difference they make is unbelievable on so many different levels. I asked Jeannie if she still had a supply and, as is usually the case, the answer was, "No!" They are a very popular item with the nurses Jeannie works with. It was time to send a new supply and when I told Jeannie I would get a new order out to her she responded as she always does, with great joy and appreciation:

You & the nursing bras are very popular & we’re still getting women crying over the new undies. The nurses keep telling me to remember to thank you for them whenever they come in to pick up….thank you, thank you, & thank you again!!!

Jeannie