Good News Update

Sometimes, Even on Vacation

Sometimes there are mitzvah opportunities that you just cannot ignore even if you are on vacation. Such was Zahava’s story. A single Ethiopian mother of two teenage sons, Zahava currently works as a warehouseman in a Netanya department store.

Life for Zahava has never been easy. She made aliyah with some family friends when she was about 12 years old. She was bright,finished her high school requirements and was offered scholarships to pursue a professional degree but her husband (she was married at this point) refused to allow her to do this. Eventually he became abusive and she and her young sons were forced to flee to a Haifa shelter for abused women. In time Zahava managed to find work and a small apartment, raising her children on her own.

Today Zahava has been offered a full scholarship to nursing school; a profession she always wanted to pursue since her earlier work in a nursing home. Fiercely independent, Zahava knows that without some help she could never take advantage of this opportunity to advance herself and improve her life and the lives of her sons.

The scholarship will take care of the full two years of school but funds for rent and other living expenses are also needed if this was to happen. When our friends at the Forgotten People Fund approached us about helping there was never any hesitation on our part. Here was an opportunity to offer a bright and highly motivated woman the chance to gain a profession and become truly self-sufficient.

With the help of several Good People Fund donors, within two days funds were raised to cover Zahava’s expenses for the full two years of school. We could not be happier.

Unchained at Last

Hadiya*, Aditi*, and Fraidy – three women, each from distinctly different cultural and religious backgrounds, but sadly, all facing the same crisis in their lives – leaving an arranged marriage.

An arranged marriage…the term seems so out of place in our modern world and yet in our country today there are thousands of women trapped in such marriages, most with little hope of escaping what has often become a life of physical and emotional abuse.

Fraidy Reiss’ family arranged her marriage at the age of 19 and she became a mother at 20. When it became obvious that her husband was abusive, there was little Fraidy could do to help herself. She had no education, no exposure to the modern world. If she thought of leaving it was likely that she could lose custody of her (then) two children and become a pariah in her own community. Life became a nightmare and the whole idea of an arranged marriage took on a much more significant meaning. After more than ten years Fraidy graduated from college, established a career, divorced her husband and, at the same time was abandoned by her family.

Today, Fraidy is a single Mom. Joined by other women with similar experiences, the group recently began Unchained at Last, the only U.S. organization dedicated to supporting women leaving arranged marriages. As we sat with Fraidy recently we could not help but be impressed. Fraidy knows first-hand exactly what these women are experiencing. She is a serious and passionate advocate on their behalf and the organization’s pro bono legal services, social services and advocacy are critically important.

The Good People Fund has committed not only funding to this fledgling effort but also has made numerous contacts that have brought even more support to the effort.

*pseudonyms

A MILLION Pounds and Going Strong!

Imagine sunny Southern California with its abundance of fresh produce…citrus trees, 12 month growing season…basically a green paradise filled with the healthiest food imaginable. Now, imagine gleaning more than a million pounds of that fresh produce with the help of all-volunteer crews dedicated to the harvest and distribution to local food pantries where hungry people will share the joy of this fresh food. This was the dream of Rick Nahmias, founder of Food Forward, one of our recent grantees.

In a phone exchange this morning, Rick shared that over the weekend the organization reached a significant milestone–a total of more than 1,000,1000 pounds of fresh produce gleaned since starting in 2009.

With the new Farmer’s Market initiative which provides volunteer pickups at three local markets (with more to come after the process is evaluated) we know it will not be long before Food Forward doubles its numbers and more people who rely on food banks for sustenance will be able to enjoy the abundance of fresh produce.

Preventing Homelessness

Life for Cindy* and her three children is not easy. Having lost her husband at a young age, Cindy struggles to make ends meet. Her job at a local market brings in $1200 a month now that she has had her hours cut back for the summer. Hopefully in the next month or so she expects to return to full-time work. To help, her two teenagers also work and pitch in. To gauge how difficult things are and how close to the edge the family lives, Cindy has no credit cards or bank accounts. Her employer will cash her check as long as she spends at least 10% of it in the store.

In the meantime, the family’s stability has been seriously rocked as their rental was recently sold and the family had to move in with friends and place their belongings in storage. With affordable housing in short supply in this Northeast city, the $850 rental they recently found was an unexpected gift.

The problem? In order to rent the family must come up with the first and last month’s rent as well as a security deposit…not so easy when you have no safety net protecting you.

Thanks to our generous donors, the Good People Fund was able to quickly write a check to the landlord and within a few days this family of four will be settled in their new home. Safe for now and with perhaps a better feeling for the upcoming New Year.

* a pseudonym

Pantry Partners

There is never any shortage of creative ideas to come from Pam Koner, founder of Family to Family. The organization always addresses the problem of domestic hunger in the most direct and creative ways so it was no surprise to learn this morning that their latest project, Pantry Partners has just launched. The Good People Fund has supported Pam’s work for years and we know that if you want to help your local food pantry this is the way to go! Check the following link for details

http://family-to-family.org/hands-on-giving-projects/pantry-partners/

Through Thick and Thin-Update

Back on June 14 we shared the story of Avi Ben-Jano who has spent his life in a wheelchair due to Cerebral Palsy. Avi lives in his own apartment at Shalhevet in Jerusalem which allows him independent living and the companionship of other disabled adults living nearby.

Through the encouragement of Miriam Freier, Shalhevet’s dynamic founder, Avi has been able to pursue his passion of film production and has created several films that have been shown locally.

Avi’s latest project is a documentary featuring the moving story of Meir who was paralyzed following an accident. The movie tells Meir’s story and how he and the love of his life, Lee, are raising a family. The film shows that while we may not control what happens in life, we do have the tools to cope with what life brings.

When the Good People Fund was approached about possible funding for the trailer Avi needs to produce so that he could present the film at a prestigious conference on disabilities here in the States, we were happy to provide a modest amount of tzedakah money to make that possible.

This morning we received word that the trailer was completed. Take a look…http://youtu.be/2CrGn4KTMZU. It is certainly a moving story.