It’s June and kids are graduating from nursery school, from high school and college all over the world. A few minutes ago we received a short email from Yitz Feigenbaum, one of the founders of Beit Hayeled in Israel. Beit Hayeled is a  special small group home where kids who have been removed from their parents by the court system have a chance to live in a loving, warm and supportive environment under the watchful care of Yitz and Irit Zucker, a kibbutz member who works with him in this endeavor.

Yitz’s email was accompanied by a photo of a brand new diploma awarded this afternoon to one of Beit Hayeled’s “graduates,”Lior” who completed his B.A. degree in social work and will start working with drug-addicted youth next week. As Yitz wrote, “A little “nachas” to share with you thanks to your endless assistance over the years.”

While it is true that the Good People Fund has supported Beit Hayeled’s kids for many years, it is really Yitz and Irit who deserve the thanks for their dedication to these kids who have overcome so much to become productive, stable adults.

Mazel tov, Lior!

…the number of food insecure seniors above the age of 60 has more than doubled to 4.8 million from 2001 to 2011.  The findings show the unexpected level of growth was most pronounced in baby boomers (i.e. the “young old” age 60-69).

These startling statistics came to us last week in a newly published report compiled by Feeding America and NFESH-the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger.

We were introduced to NFESH about six months ago. It is a new organization and the creation of Enid Borden, former head of the popular Meals on Wheels program. It was Enid’s experiences there as well as in her prior professional life that peaked her interest in and passion for eliminating senior hunger in our country. NFESH’s focus is on research, education and community partnership directed towards that goal.

While we are huge fans of the goal to end senior hunger what specifically attracted us to her efforts was a promise she made to her father Jack Borden, in one of her last conversations with him before he died. Knowing of Enid’s passionate work on behalf of hungry elders, Jack reminded her “don’t forget about the Jews.” From that last wish grew the Jack and Eleanor Borden Kosher Meal Fund, a separate effort housed within NFESH.

The Jack and Eleanor Borden Kosher Meal Fund provides funding to non-profit, community-based organizations to establish or expand kosher meal services for seniors — a perfect place for the Good People Fund to invest some of its tzedakah dollars so…we did just that and hope to do more in the future!

We could not be happier with the great article about our tzedakah work that appeared this week in the Jewish Daily Forward.  Jordana Horn, the journalist who spoke with us a few weeks ago, really summed our work up beautifully in her quote from Hillel…“Where there is no one and someone is needed, strive to be that someone.” We are honored that so many of you have joined us to be “that someone.”

Tzedakah Ain’t Just for Jewish Millionaires

Regular Folks Can Do Serious Good Deeds on Modest Budget

By Jordana Horn
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/176925/tzedakah-aint-just-for-jewish-millionaires/?p=all#ixzz2TlcOpKXl

Whether it was implicitly or explicitly taught to me, I don’t remember, but somehow, I always knew: The people who hold the Torahs during the reading of the Kol Nidre prayer are the congregation’s big machers.

A few years ago, as I stood at Kol Nidre, my eyes swept over the bimah. Even I, a comparative naif in such things, recognized a few faces as belonging to multimillionaires, if not billionaires. Obviously we were supposed to be looking at the Torah scrolls, and inward at our own souls. But there they were, on a stage before me, literally lifted above the rest of us.

Gross, I know. But even more so was my reaction when, within a half-hour, the rabbi began his Kol Nidre appeal speech, detailing the congregation’s financial needs. Any one of the people who had been on the bimah shortly before, I thought in silent response, could easily write a check that would resolve those needs — a check whose size I guarantee that I will never able to write in this lifetime.

We are fortunate, as a Jewish community, to have the Spielbergs, Bronfmans, Steinhardts, Perelmans, Lauders, etc., all of whom are paragons of both success and philanthropy. The underbelly of prominent philanthropy, however, not often discussed, is that those with $36 rather than $36 million to give may feel there is “no point” to their contribution. After all, their comparatively small drop in the bucket is not necessary when there are those who can and do fill buckets to overflowing.

Prominent wallets and donors within the Jewish community can sometimes have the unfortunate byproduct of absolving the “schlubs,” — the proletariat, us — from a financial obligation to tikkun olam and tzedakah. And this goes against everything we should stand for.

There is much to be said, then, for the good work done by ”micro-tzedakah” outlets like the Good People Fund, a Jewish micro-charity fund that looks to extend hands of financial support to smaller organizations that would otherwise be overlooked by big funders.

The Good People Fund’s executive director, Naomi Eisenberger, said that her organization’s very focus is the ability to allow people with all ranges of means to make a difference.” Why can’t the era of Kickstarter and Indiegogo — ways in which individuals can finance individuals and their projects — be applied to our modern tzedakah mentality, as well?

The Good People Fund finds “good people” — people doing great work on a comparatively personal, rather than institutional, scale — and matches them with donations and donors. The projects range widely in size, are based in America and Israel, and cover needs from hunger and elder care to kids, veterans and disabilities. One organization helped by the Good People Fund educates women in Israel who have opted to leave prostitution; another organization provides horseback riding therapy for victims of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Thirty-six dollars can be a significant gift when sent in the right direction. “Any amount,” Eisenberger said “is important and can change lives. It’s a very tangible thing.”

She cites examples of expenses — desalination pills, child care for women undergoing cancer treatments, graduation robe rental fees — that can be taken care of with minimal expenditure, and whose assumption by donors can make a tremendous difference in the life of a grantee. Last year these individual donations added up to almost $1 million.

The other good done by this micro-charity is perhaps less tangible: As an organization, it holds up its “good people” as beacons of light in a dark world, and as examples of how one person can, in fact, make a difference, even if he or she isn’t a billionaire.

Each funded project was started by people who saw a need and decided to attempt to fill it. One initiative, Down  the Block, helps suburban neighbors experiencing a sudden financial setback, whether through job loss or otherwise, by providing short-term anonymous assistance.

Another, Project Ezra, offers food, clubs, home health care and support to frail elderly people on the Lower East Side.

This is about the true potential of the individual to meet the needs of others. It exemplifies the maxim of the Jewish sage Hillel: “Where there is no one and someone is needed, strive to be that someone.”

Each one opens up a window of good, and a window into the possible. And in doing so, they give us a gift of their inspiration, and the ability to emulate them ourselves.

Jordana Horn is the former New York bureau chief of The Jerusalem Post and is a cont ributing editor to the parenting website Kveller.com

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/176925/tzedakah-aint-just-for-jewish-millionaires/?p=all#ixzz2TlXBdvQe