I want to thank you and Birthday Angels for the great birthday party you and Liat arranged for my 11 year old daughter Anna.

Sorry for my English…

This note was sent to Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg, founder of Birthday Angels, one of our Israel programs that bring joy and happiness to kids whose family might not (for economic or health reasons) be able to provide them with an appropriate celebration. When we visited Israel several weeks ago we met with Ruthie and reminded her about Jeremy’s Circle, another organization we fund which was founded by Pamela Becker and her late husband Jeremy Coleman, before he succumbed (a few years ago) to cancer. Jeremy’s Circle provides support and activities for kids who have a parent or sibling with cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. When Ruthie and Pamela spoke, Ruthie offered her help with providing parties for these kids and recently the first party was held. As Pamela shared with us…

The mom (of this birthday girl) has been with us since the beginning. … She notes (in the above letter) that she had just left the hospital following a course of chemo and otherwise would not have had the strength to arrange a party for her daughter. We celebrated her daughter’s last birthday at the event at the ecological farm in Modiin.

These are just the kinds of connections we love to make for all of our programs!

Judy Jaffe, Director of Jewish Learning at Congregation Shomrei Emunah in NJ, called this morning with a problem. Her students were going to be decorating oven mitts later in the afternoon and she really wanted to find a good home for these creations. Could we help?

Within 20 minutes I connected Judy to Dalia Abbott, one of the dedicated social workers at Project Ezra on the Lower East Side. Dalia has many elders still living on their own for whom a new oven mitt, decorated and sent with love from a youngster, would be a welcome kitchen addition.

From the looks of this picture, it appears that the kids had a ball. We know a dozen mitts are on their way to new homes in New York. We can only imagine how many briskets and chocolate cookies they might help lift from the oven!

What a great surprise it was this morning to receive our "Google Alert" for The Good People Fund.

Despite the obvious misspelling in the article we are thrilled to receive such a beautiful review of our work.

Enjoy the article and consider the error just an April Fool’s ploy!

The Fairy GOODmother

…The first of your baby bottles etc. have gone out the door… 3 Newborns
each having none when they were born. So that’s 18 bottles, nipples, & 3 bottle brushes Having the bottles & brushes means that all we have to do is count them out instead of having to find them, check to see that they’re OK to use & then count them out! Somewhere in & around Seattle there are 3 babies less than a week old eating happily…Thank you again! Bless you for helping them all…

As always,
Jeannie

Jeannie Jaybush is a founder of Seattle’s Baby Corner which serves as a resource for local social services who deal with families (with few economic resources) that have a new baby and cannot afford many of the items needed to help with caring for a new infant. From time to time we like to stock Jeannie’s shelves with items we know will help those families. In the past we have donated dozens and dozens of nursing bras. It seemed only fair that the Good People Fund give some help to the Moms who choose to bottle feed! So – 60 dozen bottles and 360 nipple brushes have arrived in Seattle to hopefully make for some very content newborns!

Anyone who followed December’s devastating fire that ravaged the Carmel Forest in Israel will recognize the image pictured here. The loss of life on the bus that was carrying new police recruits to the fire scene was immense. More than 40 men and women died in that inferno, all leaving behind families and loved ones to grieve. While several had wives, some even due to deliver babies in the coming months, not commonly publicized was that there were nine women and men who left behind either fiancées/fiancés or boyfriends/girlfriends.

We only learned of this in a recent conversation with Phyllis Heimowitz, co-founder of the Amuta for the Emotional Support of Girlfriends and Fiancées of Fallen Soldiers of the IDF(www.girlfriendsidf.org.il/). Each of these recruits was classified as part of the military and as such, only wives and blood relatives are entitled to the support services supplied by the state. It is this inequity that Phyllis’ organization attempts to rectify by providing group therapy for those survivors who are considered "only" engaged to the deceased or "merely" a "boyfriend"/"girlfriend". (Her work began in 1997 when her own daughter lost her about-to-be fiance in a military action.)

As quiet has prevailed in Israel for so long, Phyllis never imagined that she would need to form a new group and have it fill up so quickly. To date five survivors of the fire catastrophe have requested help with several more going through the intake process. When Phyllis shared this tragedy she commented that when they first met with the survivors’ group "the pain in that room was palpable" as each shared their story.

After the fire was contained the Good People Fund searched long and hard to find a significant way to help those impacted by this terrible tragedy. Once again, Phyllis and the Amuta have provided us with a way to help – we invite anyone who wishes, to send a donation to us for this effort.

Back on December 5 we wrote here about a family in Arkansas who we had learned about from Randi Cairns at Homefront Hearts. Randi shared that John Smith*, the father, was a disabled veteran and that the family was struggling with no hot water heater, a poorly insulated house and little chance for some modest presents for the upcoming holiday. We offered to do what we could and sent along not only the gifts but also arranged for a new water heater as well as some insulation work on their home.

A few weeks ago the following arrived here. While we know that the work that we do often has a significant impact, nothing quite prepared us for the eloquence and heartfelt emotions John shared with us. It reminded us of the very reasons why the Good People Fund exists and of how much of an impact we can make. Please read through and see for yourself…

22 December 2010

John Smith,

* a pseudonym