June 12, 2008

Going Home

About 6 weeks ago, just as we were beginning our work, an email arrived from Libby Reichman, founder of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Israel. (http://www.bigbrothers.org.il) Trained as a social worker, Libby realized that there were many children in Israel who came from troubled single-parent homes who would benefit from a warm and positive relationship with an adult. Her response to that problem was to begin Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Israel. Enlisting the help of mentors, adults who commit to meeting weekly with their "littles" to share some quality time at a movie, doing homework, taking a walk or just talking, BBBS has succeeded not only in Jerusalem but has now opened a branch in Tel Aviv as well.

Libby always has stories to share – most of these children come from terribly tragic circumstances and when possible, Libby feels compelled to provide more than the usual services of BBBS…sometimes she just has to try to resolve other incredibly difficult problems these kids and their families face. It was one of those problems that Libby shared six weeks ago…

B. is a woman who made aliya from the FSU with her husband 12 years ago. After arriving in Israel the couple had two children who are now 6 and 9 years old. Unfortunately, B.’s husband became abusive and she had to flee to a local shelter for women who are victims of domestic violence. After leaving the shelter, B. and the children lived in their own apartment supported by the shelter and then eventually moved into their own tiny apartment where she and the kids sleep in the same room. B. supports her family by working as a domestic and has overcome the trauma and strain of a violent situation. Those who worked with her believe that she has succeeded in every possible way despite unbelievable odds. What she and her children miss in their lives is family – all of B’s family still live in the FSU – she has absolutely no one living in Israel. What they needed was to be able to return to the FSU to visit all of their relatives and once they had passports the cost of $3600 was all that was keeping them from making the journey.

Libby asked if we could help in any way. How do you say no to something like this? Clearly this was a family that had overcome much adversity – how great it would be for them to meet a grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins. We told Libby that if she could raise $3100, we would provide the last $500 for this meaningful mitzvah. Today’s email announced that the $3100 was raised and the purchase of tickets was in the works – could we send our portion? It was a pleasure to be part of this on behalf of Good People donors!

June 06, 2008

Tsaar Baalei Chayim (the suffering of living creatures)

Anyone reading the Jewish press (or even the New York Times) for the past month or so, could not avoid the wrenching stories coming out of Postville, a small town in Iowa which was catapulted to national attention with the early morning raid by immigration officials at the Agriprocessors plant. Agriprocessors is the largest kosher meat slaughterhouse in the country, and the May 12 raid was not the first time the company was cited for serious violations including inhumane treatment of both the animals slaughtered at the plant, and the workers providing the labor necessary to carry out the processing.

Irregardless of one’s feelings about illegal immigration in this country or one’s feelings about kashrut (the observance of Jewish dietary laws), the story coming out of Postville is one of human tragedy. The workers at this plant are human beings, many with families, working long hours to make a better life. Over the past few weeks we read about the efforts of some of the local churches to help these workers but until this afternoon could not successfully make that important personal connection that would insure that any funds we contributed would go to help the families affected by this human disaster in the most direct way possible.

Early this afternoon, I received an email from Rabbi Mark Greenspan of Oceanside, NY. Rabbi Greenspan’s weekly emails include sermons and other relevant study for the upcoming Shabbat, but this week he included the following letter from Rabbi Harold Kravitz of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Minnetonka, MN. Rabbi Kravitz made a personal visit to Postville and describes that visit in the letter that follows. Please read it…it is a disturbing first-hand account of what took place in that plant and what has happened to the workers who were arrested. We were able to contact Rabbi Morris Allen who accompanied Rabbi Kravitz to Postville and through Rabbi Morris’ connections we know that funds that we send will go to the welfare of the families impacted by this tragedy. If you would like to be part of our effort, please either send a check payable to the Good People Fund (384 Wyoming Avenue, Millburn, NJ 07041) and mark it for "Postville needs" or click on the Donate Now button to the right of your screen and make a credit card donation. Please be sure to indicate that your donation is designated for "Postville needs".

May 31, 2008 – 26 Iyar, 5768

We have stood by enjoying our kosher meat and chicken from Agriprocessors which dominates the market locally and nationally. It has become increasingly clear that this has been at the expense of simple folks who have been severely mistreated and whose lives are now in utter disarray. We have a responsibility to speak out, We must speak to the providers and distributors of Kosher food about our concerns. We must urge all quarters of the Jewish community to respond to this travesty.

June 05, 2008

Hunger in America and the Internet

Pam Koner, founder of Family-to-Family (see May 8, 2008 diary entry) was in touch this morning.

Pam’s program (http://www.family-to-family.org) has been addressing the problem of hunger in this country in an incredibly direct and creative manner since the organization was started in 2002-03 when Pam read a New York Times article describing food shortages in Pembroke, Illinois.

Since the founding of FtoF, Pam has developed additional programs designed to help people living in poor rural communities across the country. Her latest idea is a Hunger Relief Registry, where donors can utilize the power of the internet to adopt a family and sponsor their food needs for a year. Please read what Pam has sent and consider this simple but very effective way to address the growing hunger crisis in this country…all is takes is a click of the mouse.

FAMILY-TO-FAMILY NEEDS YOUR HELP!

There’s a crisis at our nation’s food banks and F-to-F wants to help. Our friends at America’s Second Harvest tell us that their member food banks across the country are reporting huge increases in the numbers of families coming forward in need of emergency food supplies. At the same time food donations are way down so less food is available to give away. Many food pantries are turning people away altogether, and many others are giving out less food to each person who comes in. People are going hungry.

PLEASE HELP US HELP BY PASSING THIS EMAIL ON TO EVERYONE ON YOUR EMAIL LIST!

Family-to-Family and the Bedford-Stuyvesant Campaign Against Hunger have come up with a "crisis solution" to help these families… The Family-to-Family Hunger Relief Registry… a cyber-adoption program where you and your family will be linked to a family in one of the four desperately poor communities listed on our website’s cyber sponsorship page. …

If you are able to sponsor a family in need of help for one year ($25 per month), please click here Family-to-Family | Sponsor A Family to join our "cyber-sponsorship" program. 100% of your monthly contribution (minus Paypal’s fee of about .80 cents) will be used to purchase groceries every month for 12 months for "your" family.

In an effort to make an immediate impact, please forward this email to your own email list, or to anyone blogging… so that we can, as an extended, grassroots, cyber-community, help feed hungry American families.

June 03, 2008

Going to Israel?

Now that school is closing for the summer and everyone is gearing up for camp or trips, an email I received this morning from Dawn Steirn in Florida reminded me of something any of us could do to make an Israel trip even more meaningful. Dawn and her family are leaving for the Holy Land shortly and in preparation Dawn was in touch with me awhile back to discuss possible ways they could do something that would benefit people in Israel. It didn’t take long for them to decide that they would like to collect school supplies which will be distributed to Ethiopian children in Netanya through the good work of the Forgotten People Fund, an all-volunteer group working to help the very poor families that have settled in that city after arriving from Ethiopia. (http://www.fpf.org.il) Before too long, Dawn’s kids (one had just celebrated his Bar Mitzvah making this even more meaningful) had sent letters to their classmates at the David Posnack Hebrew Day School and the collection started to grow. By the time the Steirns leave for Israel in a few days, they will be carrying a duffel containing precious school supplies.

One phone call to Israel was all it took for me to arrange for pickup at a Jerusalem hotel and the mitzvah was complete!

Nesia tova (a good trip) to the Steirns! You have done a fine thing with this effort.

If others would like to be "mitzvah messengers," (as our good friend George Greene called those who took on this special effort) please be in touch with me. (Naomi@goodpeoplefund.org). We have lots of ideas to share.

June 02, 2008

Saving Lives, One by One

Occasionally, there are conversations that I have which remind me in the most poignant of ways of just how important our work is and how words like "small" or "insignificant" hold no relevance in the tzedakah world. I just got off the phone with Igor Feldblyum, the founder of Am Echad, a small organization based in Maryland. Igor emigrated from the FSU many years ago but has not forgotten the people who remain behind, many of them elderly, alone and sick. It was on a business trip to St. Petersburg almost ten years ago that Igor actually saw the faces of some of these (mostly) elderly Jews and felt compelled to do something. After all, he was lucky-he had been able to leave the FSU, was welcomed to the United States by American Jewry which provided him with what he needed to establish himself and his family. So many others remained behind, destined to live their last years in poverty and isolation.

How could he help? If there was a way to send small sums of money monthly to those who were most vulnerable, perhaps some people could have a better life. It was not long before others who heard of Igor’s visit agreed to be part of a plan to help these people and that was the beginning of Am Echad, a more-than-meaningful name for Igor’s vision to bring some relief to St. Petersburg’s poorest citizens. (make a visit to http://www.amechad.net to learn just how Igor accomplishes this).

As we were ending our conversation, Igor shared that Am Echad is helping almost 90 people right now, most of them single and living alone. They each receive anywhere from $20-$75. depending upon their individual circumstances. When I asked Igor to remind me what it costs to run Am Echad each year he mentioned $36,000 (there is little or no overhead) Imagine–$36,000…how many lives have changed with these modest sums of money? …sometimes we forget-changing lives, one by one is not impossible…sometimes it just takes a vision and the will.

May 27, 2008

Searching For Your Roots: Part III – (see May 21, 22, 2008 entries)

Before we even had a chance to send some funds to Dr. Albert and the Shalom Children’s Fund we received an email from him which included the following letter which he received from his contacts in Kiev. Though we have abridged the letter, we think that what follows surely shows how important Dr. Albert’s efforts are to the children of Kiev.

Dear Moses!

Best regards, G.

Yasher koach to Dr. Moses Albert and the Shalom Children’s Fund!