Peter Freimark, one of Good People Fund’s founding board members, was featured this month in the Cleveland Jewish News Silver Linings column, a portrait of community members who give back in meaningful ways. The profile captures what those of us close to Peter already know: he is, as he puts it, “the busiest retired guy I know,” spending most of his time helping others. Since retiring from careers in sales and construction, Peter has devoted himself to volunteering, including through the peanut butter and Judaism program he helped create at Temple Israel Ner Tamid in Mayfield Heights, where congregants gather after Friday night services to make and distribute sandwiches to people experiencing homelessness in downtown Cleveland — a practice now more than a decade strong. Peter credits his parents, Holocaust survivors who grew up poor and still found ways to give, with instilling in him a lifelong commitment to service. He cites his teachers Danny Siegel and Naomi Eisenberger as guiding lights as well. He is also a mentor to young people at Laurel School and a connector across many communities, and his belief is simple and profound: “Kindness is available to anybody, and there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness.” Good People Fund is deeply fortunate to count Peter among our founding board members, and his spirit of generosity is woven into the very fabric of who we are.

Good People Fund grantee Kaima Nahalal, founded by Merav Carmi, is marking a season of profound abundance and meaningful transition. Just in time for Shavuot, the farm yielded a beautiful harvest: butternut squash, beetroot, celery, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini. This allowed Kaima to fulfill weekly orders for 100 households, support 15 vulnerable families through their Feed My Neighbor initiative, and partner with another NGO to deliver fresh produce to an additional 100 families. Alongside this harvest, Merav announced that after a decade of leading the farm she founded in the wake of the #MeToo movement as a safe environment for sexually abused girls and women, she is passing the torch to incoming CEO Moran Niv Shalman, a seasoned leader with more than ten years of experience working with at-risk youth. “This land has taught me so much about abundance and healing,” Merav writes. “It truly has all the right ingredients for transformation.” We are moved by everything Merav has built, and we look forward to watching Kaima Nahalal flourish in this next chapter.

Mazel Tov to Good People Fund grantee Shana Aaronson, CEO of Magen for Jewish Communities, who has been selected as a member of Elluminate’s prestigious Collective, a signature 18-month leadership advancement program for Jewish visionary nonprofit executives driving social change in the US and Israel. Shana was chosen alongside nine other extraordinary women leaders from across the Jewish world. Magen supports survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation in the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel and the diaspora, providing counseling, advocacy, awareness, and legal support to those who too often face silence when they most need to be heard. This recognition is a tribute to Shana’s fearless leadership. We are thrilled that she has received this well-deserved honor!

Good People Fund new grantee Offer Kindness, founded by Simon and Aleeza Berman, is doing something beautifully simple in California’s Central Valley: rescuing fresh fruit that would otherwise go to waste and getting it to families who need it most. What started with overflowing backyard trees has grown into a network of volunteers picking fruit from homeowners and small farmers across and around Fresno, distributing it through food banks and community partners to hundreds of families. We are proud to support their work, helping them acquire cold storage. They recently shared their gratitude on Instagram. Take a look at their post explaining their work and thanking us. We applaud their nourishing acts of kindness!

Good People Fund grantee New Neighbors Partnership, founded by Shoshana Barzel, was recently selected as a recipient of the 2026 Trust in Practice Awards — a joint initiative of Allstate and the Aspen Institute’s Alliance for Social Trust — receiving a $100,000 grant to host potluck-style community dinners across Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, bringing together residents from different backgrounds to connect and bridge divides. This recognition reflects the remarkable community Shoshana has built: an organization that now serves 600 individuals from 42 countries and has become a steady source of welcome and belonging for refugee and immigrant families in New York.

Good People Fund grantee Kavod v’Nichum, led by executive director Sarit Wishnevski, was published this week in eJewishPhilanthropy with a beautiful and timely essay on where Jewish joy truly lives. Sarit writes that enduring joy is found not only in celebration, but in the quieter practices of communal care, chevra kadisha, bikkur cholim, showing up at shiva, and making sure no one faces life’s hardest moments alone. “There is joy in belonging to a community where care is not only a value we name but a responsibility we share,” she writes here: Looking for Jewish joy in less obvious places.