For most of us education is a given. We strive to have the best schools, the widest range of educational opportunities, to achieve as much as we might want.

Sadly, for children in remote communities across the world education is often nothing more than a dream which is why as we settled into our days in Jerusalem we were so heartened to receive this picture and a short email from Barry Hoffner, founder of our grantee, From Caravan to Class. Barry is also traveling and has just arrived in Mali where he oversaw the opening of CTC’s latest school to which the Good People Fund contributed support.

Barry wrote, With your generous support I was once again privileged today to be at the opening of one of our schools in the village of Kakondji. It is hard to express just how meaningful the new school is to the village. The head of the village pulled me aside and said “Mr. Barry, you know that one can never be President of Mali without an education. With our new school, thanks to you and your donors, maybe one of our children will be President of Mali some day”.

How great to be part of such a dream!

If you’ve ever been to Israel you know that there are two vegetables that are an integral part of the local diet — cucumbers and tomatoes. This melange of red and green can be found at every meal in a dizzying array of recipes. For our friends at Kaima, the organic sustainable farm that works with young people who have not succeeded in traditional learning environments, successfully growing the winter crop for their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) has been a challenge over the past few winters when unusually cold temperatures have prevailed in the Jerusalem hills. When Kaima’s dynamic founder, Yoni Yefet Reich, asked if the Good People Fund could underwrite the cost of a 300 square meter onsite greenhouse to protect the young plants we knew this would be an excellent investment of the tzedakah entrusted to us by our donors.

Sure enough — Yoni reports that this critical addition to Kaima’s fields has been a resounding success. In fact, in one day alone, more than 76kg (that’s almost 170 pounds) of cukes were harvested! In addition to the bumper crop, one of Kaima’s young participants is responsible for all of the activities connected to the greenhouse –a job requiring significant  talent and commitment — the very things Kaima instills in its participants.                                                                                                                                                                  

Imagine being poor; imagine being poor and enduring the death of a newborn baby. How do you not only overcome that loss but also provide a proper burial for your child when funds are in such short supply?

Jeannie Jaybush, the founder of Seattle Baby Bank has been caring for the city’s most vulnerable new babies for decades. Typically she provides all of the “fun stuff” we think about when discussing baby needs–diapers, bottles, onesies, a Teddy Bear, a car seat. But–sometimes she learns of cases like this, situations where a baby has died and the family does not have the means to provide a proper resting place. When she learned that the other children in the family were willing to forego Christmas gifts in order to have enough money to give their baby sister a proper resting place but had come up short, she reached out to us. Could we help?

As Jeannie wrote: Losing the baby was bad enough, but the added stress of the unmarked grave is unacceptably brutal. There have been far too many unmarked graves in this world. It has to stop somewhere—and if it has to start someplace I guess it’ll be here. We can’t treat people this way.

Indeed, Jeannie, we cannot treat people this way and for that reason, with the help of our donors, the Good People Fund sent Jeannie a check for $709.48; just the amount needed to provide a proper gravestone for this little girl who never had a chance to grow up.

There are times that a short video clip can best describe the essence of a program far better than all of the words we might write. That is the case with this piece we just received from Gloria Baker Feinstein, founder of Change the Truth. The lives of children living at St. Mary Kevin’s orphanage in Uganda were irrevocably changed when Gloria visited years ago. As she writes, there is an abundance of poverty, loss, and sorrow, but with the help of CTT kids now receive love, an education and most of all, hope for the future.

Watch it; in 90 seconds or sooner you will be smiling.

Change the Truth

We know from the several years that we have worked with him that Gideon Ben-Ami, our grantee in Israel, not only loves to feed hungry people but is always on the lookout for simple but meaningful acts of kindness that will change things for the better. This morning when alerted to the situation, he was introduced to the two young mothers and their toddlers pictured here. The four were flown to Israel from Haiti for urgent and advanced heart surgery required for genetic heart problems that would have resulted in death if not repaired. While doctors and the hospital all donated their services and housing and travel costs were covered, the families had very few resources to cover other needs before they return to Haiti on December 25. Enter Gideon! When alerted to the situation he shopped for basic food and added some items he had in stock making them more comfortable in their unfamiliar surroundings.

We love to hear from Amy (Sacks) Zeide, particularly after her famous Amy’s Holiday Party is over. This extraordinary Atlanta event (now in its 21st year–Amy was 12 when she started this in response to the theft of holiday toys from a local shelter– and part of Amy’s organization, Creating Connected Communities) brings together hundreds of local kids for a day of games, dancing, food and gifts to celebrate the holiday season. Coordinating the entire day are teen volunteers. Amy wrote today: “I want to thank you and The Good People Fund for everything you did to help us provide for so many children in need and offer so many meaningful teen volunteer opportunities… With your support, we were able to rent a larger tent to expand our party space.  This will be the last year at this facility but the tent was a tremendous help to keep everything running smoothly.  We also hired a 4th bus to transport more volunteers…In 2016 we have plans to put a 5th program on our calendar and develop our leadership training curriculum to include more Jewish teens”

We are excited about helping Amy. She is exactly what the Good People Fund is all about.

Now check out the great gifts the kids received!