If they don’t have the equipment, which their parents can’t afford, they will be out on the street or playing video games.

Like most kids, Max Levitt loved sports while he was growing up. In fact, he admits that from a very young age and could physically throw an object, he would toss and pitch whatever was available.

Sports were an integral part of his life–so much so that he eventually went off to Syracuse University where he majored in Sports Management and became the Equipment Manager for the football team. It was there that Max learned just how much used and excess equipment accumulates in sports programs. This surplus is not confined to college sports but exists even in many of our own basements and garages. From that realization Max began Leveling the Playing Field which collects equipment and gets it to kids who would not otherwise experience the many benefits of sports activities. Whether it be baseball, basketball, tennis, hockey…studies show that participation in sports may bring better grades, better health and so much more.

When we met Max we were taken with both his seriousness and his passion for the work that he has begun. Starting a non-profit is not for the faint-hearted and Max is not daunted by the challenges he faces. This year alone, more than 5,000 items have been donated, impacting 11,697 kids. Those numbers translate into a savings of more than $88,000 to recreation programs across numerous states and even in Israel. With the Good People Fund’s $5000 matching grant Max and Leveling the Playing Field will have significant resources to help carry out their mission.

How much unused equipment sits in your garage?

This week, we started our third month of providing lunch to the children. Before we met with you we had planned to provide 3 lunches, for three days, but we could not resist the joy on the children’s faces so immediately we changed the order and from week 1 contracted the restaurant supplying us with the food, that we would take 6 days of lunches. The joy of the children is indescribable and so is ours!

The food is rich, nutritious and diversified…It wasn’t easy in the beginning. Not all foods were familiar to the children, especially vegetables. But we are not giving up, every child that joins the circle of vegetable eaters brings us great joy, they show us their muscles and understand that only if they eat their vegetables  will they be strong and healthy!

I would like to thank you once more for your support in helping us fund these meals.

This quick email update just arrived and was sent by Carmit Elad, a volunteer for Tzimaon, a Good People Fund Israeli grantee and all-volunteer organization that believes that we should all help those who have less.  It was Carmit’s idea to help the children in the refugee ganim (daycare centers) with better surroundings and healthy food. The picture above shows the formerly “white plates” filled with rice or pasta. With our help those plates are now “green” and the “circle of vegetable eaters” is getting bigger every day!

For many non-profits, June 30 represents the moment of truth — the final day of the fiscal year. When I awoke yesterday morning I had a vague idea what that “moment” would be for us but until I “ran the numbers” I could not be certain. According to our QuickBooks file we have raised $1,297,451.00 this (fiscal) year—more than what we budgeted for and nearly a 10% increase over last year (and nearly 45% over two years ago.) With this number the total raised since our inception six years ago is more than $6,000,000. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I expect us to achieve this number as quickly as we did. Certainly the economy would not have predicted such an impressive gain.

As exciting as these numbers are—they are, in the end, just numbers. What is more significant is what the numbers represent and that became crystal clear in an email received early yesterday morning. The brief report was from Laurie Groner who runs Inbar, an Israeli program we began to fund this winter. Inbar was started by Rabbi Shaul Inbari, profoundly disabled, and unwilling to live his life alone and devoid of love. Inbar (not named for Rabbi Inbari but rather derived from the Hebrew word for “amber”) offers social events, courses in relationships and social integration to people with disabilities…as well as matchmaking services. After meeting with Laurie in February we offered a grant to cover part of the cost of a social worker who would be instrumental in carrying out the group’s mission. Laurie now wrote that the social worker was actually fulfilling even more than what was originally imagined. She added, “I can honestly tell you, and please tell the rest of your board members and donors, that the Good People Fund’s donation to Inbar has increased our productivity exponentially.”  Words like these are music to the ears of any non-profit.

As I pondered how best to share all of this good news, word arrived from Israel — three young men whose kidnapping had galvanized the Jewish world, were found brutally murdered not far from where they were taken. In an instant, all of the exciting events of the day seemed insignificant and I could not continue to write …until now.

In the light of a new day I have come to realize that despite the evil in our world, what we do — discovering and supporting  those among us who are inspired to change the world and bring goodness to the fore — is actually the antidote to that darkness.

So today, July 1, as we start off a new year we wish to share two thoughts. As we remember Gil’ad, Eyal and Naftali we hope that in their names we will find even more goodness around us and make that goodness possible. And, to everyone who has been a part of our work and made the Good People Fund possible we say thank you for believing that tzedakah can indeed bring about a more just world.

We are grateful.

Watch our friend Gideon Ben Ami in Tel Aviv this morning as he picks up donated diapers from a local mega-pharmacy. The diapers are all new but may have torn packaging or were returned by customers because their babies outgrew that size.

As the second picture shows, Gideon’s van is filled with this expensive and very much needed commodity.

Picture three, taken maybe 30 minutes later, shows the smiling faces of some African refugee kids at a local gan (daycare center) where this valuable donation will be put to very quick use.

It was that simple–1-2-3! A dedicated person, a generous business and some very worthwhile but needy recipients.

Few of us could imagine being without our home for a short time, let alone for almost two years. The P. Family in Broad Channel, Queens is one such family, forced to evacuate during Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012. Once the waters receded they were left with a sodden mess that was ultimately beyond repair. For the past 18+ months they have argued with agency after agency and finally received permission to have their home torn down and a modular home put in its place. When the Barnert Memorial Temple in Franklin Lakes, NJ entrusted the Good People Fund with several thousand dollars this past spring it was with the hope that we would find a worthy family still struggling with the effects of the storm.

Though their modular home (which comes with no power or water hook-up) was ultimately delivered that was just the beginning. With federal funds slow to arrive, if at all, the family was caught in a difficult bind until we stepped in with the Barnert Temple funds, augmented by our own contribution.

Two weeks ago we approved the plumbing contract they signed.  The Good People Fund agreed to cover approximately $5000 over and above the donated Barnert funds so that this family might soon be able to go home. Today, the plumbing contractor informed me that the work was complete!

Will the family get home before the second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy?

The smile says it all. In Tel Aviv this morning a group of compassionate volunteers from the picturesque town of Zichron Yaakov partnered with the Good People Fund and Tzimaon, one of our grantees, to offer a carnival-like day to dozens of African refugee kids from a local gan (daycare center).  Gideon Ben Ami, our tireless man-of-many-compassionate-talents helped arrange the adventure. The kids who  spend hours daily in a window-less room, reveled in the bright sunshine and the volunteers’ undivided attention. To make it even more exciting, popsicles and a magic act capped off the day.

We’ve already received notes from volunteers attesting to the fun they had and the wish to be part of the next fun day.

We hope it happens soon!