When the New York Jets trounced the New England Patriots on Sunday, September 20th it was not just the local fans that enjoyed the huge array of available food the Izod Center sells during sports events. Thanks to our good friend, Syd Mandelbaum, founder of Rock and Wrap It Up!, local food pantries and soup kitchens are able to feed hundreds of people with the concessions’ leftovers.

As we picked up our local paper (The N.J. Star-Ledger) this past Sunday what a great surprise it was to see the front page headline which described Syd’s work. Since it is true that a picture is often worth a thousand words, we suggest you follow this link to the great video which tells this story.

http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2009/09/leftover_food_from_giants_stad.html

Now that Syd has taken on the food vendors inside the stadium, we wonder if anyone has thought about the bounty of food that goes to waste out in the parking lot where tailgate parties abound?

"At the restaurant, I was, once again, struck to see how young these soldiers were. I noticed a young man who was painfully thin and asked our liaison at the hospital about him. He explained that his wounds were not visible but rather he had suffered extensive internal surgeries and was now just beginning to be able to enjoy normal food. Some of the soldiers were wearing artificial limbs and they were in the process of receiving rehabilitation treatments to teach them to how use these aids properly. Each soldier had his own story to tell. After being in the hospital for so many months, the group was delighted to be able to share this weekend together. Several other diners at the hotel reported that a wonderful time was had by all."

These words came to us this morning from Barbara Silverman, founder of A Package From Home, which has been providing for the general welfare of Israel’s soldiers for almost 10 years. In addition to the thousands of packages of food and warm clothing which the organization has delivered, last year Barbara began the Soldiers’ Respite Weekend Program which brings several of Israel’s severely wounded soldiers to Jerusalem for a wonderful holiday weekend. This break from their ongoing and exhaustive medical treatment is just what the doctors ordered and Barbara tells us how excited and grateful the participants were.

This year’s program was held two weeks ago and this morning we received Barbara’s report on the program’s success as well as several pictures attesting to the soldiers’ enjoyment. We are sure that a few nights at Jerusalem’s beautiful Inbal Hotel went a long way to restoring some happiness and peace of mind to the soldiers who were part of the weekend.

Nothing makes us prouder than to be part of Barbara’s amazing work. She is a special woman with tremendous energy and a passion for helping where she can.

Right before the holiday began (September 14, 2009 Diary), we wrote about the many people who were going to enjoy a festive celebration because of the funds we were able to provide for supermarket gift cards. We had forgotten to mention one other group that we were able to help in Israel, and when I opened on of this morning’s emails, this picture was a reminder of another group that benefited from our donors’ generosity.

The young girls in this picture are part of the all-volunteer group that works with Darchei Tzion, a small food pantry located in Beit Shean, one of Israel’s poorer communities located in the area of the Jordan Valley. Best known for its amazing archeological sites, Beit Shean is also home to many poor families and individuals who struggle to survive. We met the good people who run this pantry through our friend Yitz Feigenbaum who co-directs Beit Hayeled, the group home for troubled children on nearby Kibbutz Meirav. When we visited Israel last winter we were impressed with the very simple but effective efforts Darchei Tzion makes on behalf of the residents of this city. The fact that the group relies on many volunteers to accomplish their goal of easing hunger, only made their efforts more appealing.

With Yitz’s help, we were able to provide the funds for the purchase of some of the food that went into the packages (actually, lots and lots of schnitzel!) and this picture (along with several others we were sent) shows just what a volunteer-effort this is.

We were honored to be able to be part of their good work!

Dearest Naomi

Received today the tlushim! (supermarket gift cards) As always your help is in the right moment. Be blessed by all the families that will enjoy holiday, thanks to you

Zev

This was one of the many emails we discovered this morning as the day’s work began. It is from Zev Birger who helps many, many poor families in the Romema neighborhood in Jerusalem. The cards Zev received from us only this morning are now, no doubt, in the hands of the individuals who will shop for holiday food in the next few days. Zev is one of several "angels" we rely upon to distribute the cards where needed.

With the holidays fast upon us, we have been busy buying supermarket gift cards both in Israel and here in the States and getting them into the hands of people we know who would otherwise have a difficult time preparing a festive meal for themselves and their families. Due to an unexpected generous donation which came to us last week, we were thrilled to be able to increase the number of people who received this extra help for holiday food.

Here in the States, I just mailed off many envelopes filled with gift cards for local markets. All went to Shoah survivors or Second Generation men and women who live on very meager incomes and for whom holiday shopping would be difficult.

As we all sit down to our holiday meals this coming Shabbat and weekend, we are grateful for the generosity of our donors who have allowed us to provide others with this same simple pleasure.

I am coming to the end of a long day at my desk but the phone call I just received could not have made me happier or more firmly convinced that the work that we do makes all the difference to so many people, many of them lonely with no one who really cares about their well-being.

The call was from Darla Oz who with her husband, "Oz", runs House to House in Jerusalem.(http://housetohouseisrael.org). Back on May 11, I shared the following story in this Diary:

…While catching up with Darla in an early morning call today, we learned about a small hotel in Jerusalem which is home to almost 200 elderly Shoah survivors, many of them ill and lonely. Darla shared that in a conversation with the social worker at the site; she learned…that for many of these elders birthdays are rarely celebrated-no gifts, no cards…just a lonely day like any other. The social worker also told Darla that many residents wished that the local grocer (who brings basic food items to the hotel lobby each Friday so that everyone can come down and shop) would include some fresh cheese in his weekly visits. They truly missed enjoying a piece of fresh cheese! In about 30 seconds Darla and I decided that each of these residents should enjoy a nice chunk of fresh cheese, and what better time for them to receive one than on their birthday! Darla also asked if it would be possible to get birthday cards for each of them and we promised we would enlist as many teachers as possible in this simple act of chesed.

This afternoon, Darla called to tell me how she and her friend, a cab driver, made their way over to the hotel with the first batch of gifts for all birthdays recently celebrated. The gift bags were beautiful. Darla had enlisted some women at the local women’s shelter who wrapped the soap bars with paper donated by a local shop, and another nearby shop had given Darla a deep discount on the jars of preserves (there were 10 flavors to choose from!). All Darla needed were the birthday cards which she managed to have done by two Russian women that she knew, along with a third that she met on the street!

The social worker called each resident down on the house phone and one by one they received their little gifts. (we should tell you that not one of these elders is younger than 80!) Nothing prepared Darla for the comments. One elderly man who is suffering from cancer and has had an arm amputated and has sight in only one eye, came for his gift and holding the bag in the stub of his arm, told her "I’ve never received anything at all…". Another elderly woman shared that it had been 40 years since she had last gotten a birthday present…

One additional comment Darla shared with me really hit me…she reminded me that so often the sparkle in our elders’ eyes dims as they age; in each of the people who came for their gifts you could not miss the light that shone when they opened their packages and saw the cards. It must have been a truly beautiful experience.

By the time this little mitzvah reaches all 197 residents of the hotel we can only imagine what comments, what joy and what happiness we engendered. Who would have thought?

PS-We are excited to add that the remaining birthday cards are going to be made by kids in several religious school classes here in the States and will be mailed to Darla so that she can put them in the next batch of gift bags.

It is hard to believe, but it is the first of September and in Israel schoolchildren are returning to their classrooms today…hopefully excited, though likely sad that the summer has ended and the real work begins.

For many families in Israel the beginning of school brings a new set of worries-how do they pay for school books and supplies? Unlike here in America, families must pay for their kid’s textbooks. When you add the cost of paper, pens, crayons and everything else that is needed, the burden can be too great for many, particularly families who have endured the never-ending trauma of terror attacks from prior years. Though years may have past, the economic and psychological impact never really ends.

For one woman, now a widow after her husband’s death at the hands of a terrorist while at work, the burden of providing her child with the textbooks needed for school is more than she can handle.

For another youngster about to enter the fourth grade, returning to school was something she did not want to do since she had been using some of the same supplies from her younger days and was now embarrassed by their juvenile appearance. Being in the fourth grade meant she should have things that were more "grown up".

One family of seven is still dealing with the serious losses they endured after their home in Sderot was hit by a Katushya rocket. They now have to live in a small apartment and both parents are without work due to cutbacks and the time they needed to take from work to help their children deal with the trauma of the attacks. For this family buying school supplies was beyond what they could afford.

We learned about these families and others through our friend Karyn London, the social worker who works with terror victims at ATZUM. (http://ATZUM.org) We know that whatever funds we send will be used quickly, efficiently and with the greatest respect for the recipients.