Good News Update

Ordinary Heroes with Bernie Furshpan and guest Naomi Eisenberger

For more than three decades, Naomi has championed small, often overlooked nonprofits — supporting visionaries who tackle hunger, homelessness, forced marriage, cancer treatment, and more with creativity and compassion. Naomi shares powerful stories, from Unchained At Last — helping women escape forced and child marriages — to The Lemonade Fund in Israel, providing financial lifelines to women battling cancer. With over $35 million raised and more than 250 programs supported in the U.S. and Israel, Naomi shows how ordinary people can create extraordinary impact. This is a conversation about resilience, humanity, and the power of good people working together to change the world.

GPF Grantee Launches a Powerful Storytelling Video Series

Grantee Tag Meir fights hatred and division in Israel by building bridges and engaging in acts of compassion. When Naomi visited with Tag Meir in February, she suggested a project to tell important stories of coexistence through videos. Founder Gadi Gvaryahu ran with the idea and recently published the first video in the series, supported by a special GPF grant. Take a look at the video here, with more to come!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1387231699246031

International Neighbors Celebrates 10 Years

International Neighbors, a GPF grantee that equips newcomers to the United States with resources and skills they need to thrive, recently celebrated its ten year anniversary. Founder and CEO, Kari Anderson Miller, shared some reflections on the occasion of this big milestone:

“It feels like both a lifetime ago and just like yesterday when we officially launched International Neighbors with a gathering at Old Metropolitan Hall. As an elementary school teacher, I saw so much need in our refugee student community, especially when I scheduled in-home teacher visits. Food insecurity, makeshift beds on floors, lack of transportation to gain meaningful employment, confusion over school forms, little knowledge about basic household functions like thermostat operation, shower hardware, and laundry—all played into academic performance and social acceptance. My colleagues and I understood that we couldn’t solely focus on grades; we had to educate and equip the whole child—and their families too—a task that went far beyond the classroom.

That is the origin story. And ten years later, the narrative is largely the same—Welcoming. Equipping. Community building.

Someone asked me recently how our organization survived when statistically most non-profit organizations shudder in the first three years (not to mention the significant challenges of a divisive political climate, global pandemic, and an extended pause on the refugee admissions program in the United States since January). I answered that consistency over the last decade has been the key to our longevity. We simply refused to stop, even when change didn’t come as quickly as we would have liked, or when external circumstances were less than ideal.”

Hadassah Foundation Honors GPF Family, New and Old

This week The Hadassah Foundation announced their Israel grants and we were thrilled to see two members of our Good People Fund family on the list: New grantee Racheli Tadessa Malkai, founder of Maatzimot (Empowering Ethiopian Women) and Moria Rodal Silfen, current CEO of GPF alum Atzum – Justiceworks (which runs the Task Force on Human Trafficking) founded by Rabbi Levi Lauer. Part of our mission is to amplify the work of our grantees as they move their organizations forward toward greater impact. We celebrate these achievements with them!

Spirit Club Expands to Denver

Spirit Club, our grantee that runs fitness programs for people of all abilities, striving for integration and access, is expanding to Denver! Founding Director Jared Ciner shared:

“This will be our first expansion into a brand-new area. We are hopeful and excited to make a similar impact in Denver as we have in the DC area. We appreciate your (Good People Fund) incredible support as you have given us the stability and confidence to be able to replicate our model in a new location”

Breaking the Chain: Back to School in Ghana

As we think about children going back to school, we want to highlight our grantee Evan Robbins, founder of Breaking the Chain Through Education (BTCTE). Evan is a teacher and every summer he travels to Africa bringing educational opportunities to children who are rescued from slavery and forced labor. He reports that he had quite a summer in Africa checking in on his program participants and meeting new potential students including Samuel, pictured below with Evan. Social services in Ghana brought Samuel to Breaking the Chain’s attention, and when they met him, they quickly understood why. Not only did they see his tattered shirt and broken shoes, but he also told them that he is cared for by his grandmother, who feeds him when she can… but not every day. His grandmother, who is in her 90s, was in the hospital at that time. Knowing his situation, they were surprised that he had been able to graduate from Junior High School (the equivalent of 9th grade in the United States). But when they asked how he was able to pay for his uniform and PTO fees, he told them that he worked construction jobs on the weekends—paying for his own education, and often his food. Samuel is now a part of BTCTE, has new clothing, and his education will be funded going forward. He will be able to choose secondary school or learn a trade.