Once again, the situation in Israel has deteriorated to the point that over 75% of the country is threatened by the recent wave of rocket attacks. No longer is the crisis confined to the southern-most part of Israel…very few regions are exempt from the ongoing tzeva adom (code red) alarms that pierce the air at a frighteningly frequent rate. (To get a sense of just how far technology has come in this war and how frequently these rockets are being deployed you can now download the app for these alarms on your smartphone.)

We have spoken with all of our programs individually, sharing our concern. In fact, if there is one overriding comment I hear it is that our “checking in” is so important — to know that people not involved in the day-to-day matsav (situation ) care and want to help gives everyone strength knowing that they are not alone.

Whenever there is a major crisis — a tsunami, a hurricane or, in this case a war affecting a region where we are already deeply invested, the question that always arises is “where do we, the Good People Fund, best use our resources to help in ways that are consistent with our philosophy?” Over the past few days I have been in touch with Rosa Naveh, a certified family therapist and supervisor who began The Center for Children and Family at Risk in Sderot in 2001. Rosa has often acted on our behalf with specific needs for her families that are not met elsewhere. When we met her several years ago we knew immediately that her “no-nonsense” compassion would serve us well. A few days ago I wrote to Rosa asking how the children and families she works with were managing in this latest war. Could we help?

Rosa explained that in Sderot there are many organizations that provide interventions for families who have been “hit” or suffer severe anxiety attacks. All of these services are emergency based. Rosa’s wish is to provide art therapy with the help of a nationally recognized art therapist and his team. The therapists will make home visits to help the children and their families process what is happening now, while it is happening, so that it doesn’t develop into chronic PTSD. When this is done on a home visit basis it alleviates a sense of isolation when most families stay home. Also most of these parents need to continue working which means that they often leave their children at home. Providing them art therapy at home preserves their sense of childhood as opposed to being thrown into a tough reality with no emotional means to cope because “they are still children”. This therapy will also be offered to home-bound handicapped people who have a particularly difficult time in these kinds of situations.

Our plan is to provide at least 100 hours of art therapy which Rosa will monitor and is enlisting families as of this morning.

In addition, we will provide funds to Maya Englert, founder of our grantee, Fund for Needy Immigrants located in Beersheva, a particularly hard-hit city in the South. Maya reports that our urgent need in this context is to help these immigrants as much as possible, by distributing food, soaps and basic necessities for the immigrants, as well as games, toys and some candy to the children. … in addition to the immigrants in the Nachal Ashan neighborhood, there are 150 families of new immigrants in the Ye’elim absorption centre, who have similar needs.

Please click here www.goodpeoplefund.org/donate so that we can make these needs (and anything else we are asked to provide) a reality for Israel’s most vulnerable citizens.

If they don’t have the equipment, which their parents can’t afford, they will be out on the street or playing video games.

Like most kids, Max Levitt loved sports while he was growing up. In fact, he admits that from a very young age and could physically throw an object, he would toss and pitch whatever was available.

Sports were an integral part of his life–so much so that he eventually went off to Syracuse University where he majored in Sports Management and became the Equipment Manager for the football team. It was there that Max learned just how much used and excess equipment accumulates in sports programs. This surplus is not confined to college sports but exists even in many of our own basements and garages. From that realization Max began Leveling the Playing Field which collects equipment and gets it to kids who would not otherwise experience the many benefits of sports activities. Whether it be baseball, basketball, tennis, hockey…studies show that participation in sports may bring better grades, better health and so much more.

When we met Max we were taken with both his seriousness and his passion for the work that he has begun. Starting a non-profit is not for the faint-hearted and Max is not daunted by the challenges he faces. This year alone, more than 5,000 items have been donated, impacting 11,697 kids. Those numbers translate into a savings of more than $88,000 to recreation programs across numerous states and even in Israel. With the Good People Fund’s $5000 matching grant Max and Leveling the Playing Field will have significant resources to help carry out their mission.

How much unused equipment sits in your garage?

This week, we started our third month of providing lunch to the children. Before we met with you we had planned to provide 3 lunches, for three days, but we could not resist the joy on the children’s faces so immediately we changed the order and from week 1 contracted the restaurant supplying us with the food, that we would take 6 days of lunches. The joy of the children is indescribable and so is ours!

The food is rich, nutritious and diversified…It wasn’t easy in the beginning. Not all foods were familiar to the children, especially vegetables. But we are not giving up, every child that joins the circle of vegetable eaters brings us great joy, they show us their muscles and understand that only if they eat their vegetables  will they be strong and healthy!

I would like to thank you once more for your support in helping us fund these meals.

This quick email update just arrived and was sent by Carmit Elad, a volunteer for Tzimaon, a Good People Fund Israeli grantee and all-volunteer organization that believes that we should all help those who have less.  It was Carmit’s idea to help the children in the refugee ganim (daycare centers) with better surroundings and healthy food. The picture above shows the formerly “white plates” filled with rice or pasta. With our help those plates are now “green” and the “circle of vegetable eaters” is getting bigger every day!

For many non-profits, June 30 represents the moment of truth — the final day of the fiscal year. When I awoke yesterday morning I had a vague idea what that “moment” would be for us but until I “ran the numbers” I could not be certain. According to our QuickBooks file we have raised $1,297,451.00 this (fiscal) year—more than what we budgeted for and nearly a 10% increase over last year (and nearly 45% over two years ago.) With this number the total raised since our inception six years ago is more than $6,000,000. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I expect us to achieve this number as quickly as we did. Certainly the economy would not have predicted such an impressive gain.

As exciting as these numbers are—they are, in the end, just numbers. What is more significant is what the numbers represent and that became crystal clear in an email received early yesterday morning. The brief report was from Laurie Groner who runs Inbar, an Israeli program we began to fund this winter. Inbar was started by Rabbi Shaul Inbari, profoundly disabled, and unwilling to live his life alone and devoid of love. Inbar (not named for Rabbi Inbari but rather derived from the Hebrew word for “amber”) offers social events, courses in relationships and social integration to people with disabilities…as well as matchmaking services. After meeting with Laurie in February we offered a grant to cover part of the cost of a social worker who would be instrumental in carrying out the group’s mission. Laurie now wrote that the social worker was actually fulfilling even more than what was originally imagined. She added, “I can honestly tell you, and please tell the rest of your board members and donors, that the Good People Fund’s donation to Inbar has increased our productivity exponentially.”  Words like these are music to the ears of any non-profit.

As I pondered how best to share all of this good news, word arrived from Israel — three young men whose kidnapping had galvanized the Jewish world, were found brutally murdered not far from where they were taken. In an instant, all of the exciting events of the day seemed insignificant and I could not continue to write …until now.

In the light of a new day I have come to realize that despite the evil in our world, what we do — discovering and supporting  those among us who are inspired to change the world and bring goodness to the fore — is actually the antidote to that darkness.

So today, July 1, as we start off a new year we wish to share two thoughts. As we remember Gil’ad, Eyal and Naftali we hope that in their names we will find even more goodness around us and make that goodness possible. And, to everyone who has been a part of our work and made the Good People Fund possible we say thank you for believing that tzedakah can indeed bring about a more just world.

We are grateful.

Watch our friend Gideon Ben Ami in Tel Aviv this morning as he picks up donated diapers from a local mega-pharmacy. The diapers are all new but may have torn packaging or were returned by customers because their babies outgrew that size.

As the second picture shows, Gideon’s van is filled with this expensive and very much needed commodity.

Picture three, taken maybe 30 minutes later, shows the smiling faces of some African refugee kids at a local gan (daycare center) where this valuable donation will be put to very quick use.

It was that simple–1-2-3! A dedicated person, a generous business and some very worthwhile but needy recipients.

Few of us could imagine being without our home for a short time, let alone for almost two years. The P. Family in Broad Channel, Queens is one such family, forced to evacuate during Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012. Once the waters receded they were left with a sodden mess that was ultimately beyond repair. For the past 18+ months they have argued with agency after agency and finally received permission to have their home torn down and a modular home put in its place. When the Barnert Memorial Temple in Franklin Lakes, NJ entrusted the Good People Fund with several thousand dollars this past spring it was with the hope that we would find a worthy family still struggling with the effects of the storm.

Though their modular home (which comes with no power or water hook-up) was ultimately delivered that was just the beginning. With federal funds slow to arrive, if at all, the family was caught in a difficult bind until we stepped in with the Barnert Temple funds, augmented by our own contribution.

Two weeks ago we approved the plumbing contract they signed.  The Good People Fund agreed to cover approximately $5000 over and above the donated Barnert funds so that this family might soon be able to go home. Today, the plumbing contractor informed me that the work was complete!

Will the family get home before the second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy?