It’s been a privilege for us to help provide home-cooked meals for  Israel’s hard-working soldiers on the northern border. Amidst the frequent shelling,  Shelley Liss Barkan and a corps of volunteers from around Shlomi have been preparing delicious meals for Shabbat every week since the
war began.

Ruca’s Farm, one of our Israeli grantees, is preparing to welcome its first cohort of IDF soldiers with PTSD for healing of mind and body on their organic agricultural farm. In addition, we are working with Dr. Anita Shkedi — a noted expert and practitioner of equine therapy to treat PTSD, and founder of former GPF grantee INTRA (Israel National Therapeutic Riding Association) — to begin working with IDF soldiers and survivors of the Nova rave so impacted by the current war.

The Tel Aviv Food Bank had a substantial increase in need for food after Oct. 7. Our emergency grant is allowing the food bank to meet this need and distribute food to additional families facing hardship and food insecurity, while continuing to serve existing beneficiaries.

GPF grantee Pesia’s Kitchen tells us that demand for food assistance has surged “dramatically” since October 7. The organization has identified new partners to donate prepared food and individual meals so that it can maintain and expand service to communities it has served for over a decade  — including shelters, safe houses for people who are homeless, asylum seekers, refugee families, and vulnerable individuals.

This month, GPF grantee Sahar reports a 400 percent increase in emotional distress messages to its trauma-support hotline compared to last year … an expansion to 24/7 operations … and 100 new volunteers monitoring open lines this month.