Sometimes words cannot really do justice to the wondrous people and programs we discover and welcome to The Good People Fund family. Traveling through Israel over the past two weeks has opened our eyes to some of the most creative and moving tzedakah efforts we have ever seen.

Menachem Stolpner, a Brooklyn-born social worker who made aliyah about 18 years ago, has founded a beautiful organization called Shai Asher (Milton’s Gift) on Kibbutz Shluchot, not far from Beit Shean. In this pastoral setting, four young adults with developmental disabilities are engaged in meaningful employment under Menachem’s watchful eyes and patient demeanor. It is beautiful. Watch for yourself and see how this nascent program is changing lives, one by one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVoHKCsAfGo

You won’t be disappointed.

Most of the time we find ourselves sharing stories tinged with sadness or despair. This morning, however, we heard about how a few people came together to    make possible the mitzvah of m’sameach katan v’kallah or rejoicing with the bride and groom.
It all began yesterday when Gideon Ben Ami who spends his days helping Tel Aviv’s most forgotten and desperate residents, wrote about a young police officer, an immigrant who came to Israel with no family or friends, and was about to marry. Having very little money the prospective groom and his bride had planned a simple ceremony in Tel Aviv’s Great Synagogue with no real celebration to follow.
Here is where the kindness of others turned the simcha into something very special. Coincidentally, Gideon was a guest at another wedding a few days ago and afterward that bride asked him to deliver the leftover food to a nearby shelter. She also asked him to stop by to pick up the remaining candy and snacks. Gideon shared that the candy and snacks would be perfect for this new wedding he had just learned about and was hoping to make a bit more festive. Upon arriving to pick-up the candy he saw that the new bride and groom left not only the food but also an envelope with 1800 shekels and a note directing Gideon to use the money to help make the couple a proper celebration and to present them with anything that was leftover as a small gift.
Needless to say, with Gideon’s ingenuity and the generosity of many strangers, the young couple married today and enjoyed a reception replete with gorgeous flowers, fresh pastries of all kinds and this special wedding cake prepared by a local bakery. On top if it all, the couple received a cash gift of almost $250 which represented what was left of the original 1800 shekels.

Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah-one mitzvah does lead to another!

There is nothing more important to our work than getting out from behind our desk and actually spending time with our Good People, watching them as they go about their work.

On a bitter cold day last week we trekked into Manhattan to visit Bruce and Liz Gitlin at the New York Center for Law and Justice. To be deaf or hard of hearing is a challenge; to be deaf or hard of hearing and indigent is a further challenge; to be deaf or hard of hearing and indigent in New York City is beyond most of us. In founding the Center (and this is the only center in the entire world with a full-time staff), Bruce and Liz have committed themselves to not only help individuals in their struggles to navigate the “system” but to also change the system to make it possible for people with hearing disabilities to get a fair and equitable chance, no matter where they must interact with bureaucracy of any kind. Access to sign language interpreters or other accepted forms of communication simply must be available.

In the two hours we sat in the Center’s cozy single room office it became very clear that the need for services is considerable and truly life-saving. First to walk through the door was a young woman who had appeared weeks before wishing to gain asylum in America. Sapphire arrived in NY from Jamaica after fleeing a country where as a homosexual she was repeatedly raped and beaten not only for her sexual orientation but also for her disability. In fact, she witnessed the murder of her partner which prompted her flight to New York. Sapphire was visiting to pick up a warm winter coat, hat and gloves which the Good People Fund had coincidentally provided when Liz told us Sapphire’s story weeks before. It was particularly meaningful to be present and anonymously gain further understanding of Sapphire’s situation.

But a short time later, an elderly woman appeared and her story was once again testament to the Gitlin’s mission. In this case the woman had lost or had stolen all of her personal papers including her bank card. For the more than two months that this problem remained unresolved, her bank account had been emptied of the monthly funds she receives as a disabled and indigent individual. Could homelessness be far from her future?

How would any of us navigate these situations? We are so happy to be able to help Bruce and Liz and the clients they save.

It’s been a very long day here filled with good news and great mitzvah opportunities. But, as the day ends we are reminded very poignantly of why the work done by The Good People Fund is unique and important.

Jeannie Jaybush who founded Seattle’s Baby Corner many years ago has suddenly found herself without the organization she created to help the many babies born in Seattle to parents who cannot provide even the most basic of needs for newborns (and older). There’s not much we can say about why Jeannie is in this position but the fact that she is undaunted and has started anew with BabyBank gives you some sense of the passion she holds for her mission and the feisty nature that is part of her persona.

With Jeannie’s reputation in the community and her willingness to step in where others won’t, it was no surprise to get her email a few hours ago…Twins were born on Christmas Eve and died at birth. The parents, with few resources could  raise only $100 of the $260 (greatly reduced) needed to cremate their tiny bodies…could we help?

Could we not? It was no surprise when the funeral director reported that the Mother cried when she was told the bill was paid.

Last August we reported that the Good People Fund made a grant to cover the cost of fresh fruit to Gabriel Project Mumbai, a program started by Jacob Sztokman and dedicated to fighting hunger, child labor, malnutrition and illiteracy for the children living in the Mumbai slums. Jacob wrote this morning and shared the following story:

I was sitting with the women from the kitchen and asked them how the fruit program is doing. They told me that they love it because the kids are happy to receive fruit. Fruit, as opposed to their meals, make children happy, literally happy. I don’t know, I understood fruit being an important part of a child’s nutrition but I didn’t think about the fact that 1000 children receive a sense of happiness from receiving fruit. It’s really nice.

Indeed it is nice, but even nicer was the rest of Jacob’s note which shared that the women in the kitchen (which the Good People Fund helped underwrite) who prepare the kids’ lunches in a micro-enterprise arrangement are about to receive cooking lessons from a nearby famous cooking school (including learning how to bake–something no one does since they have no stoves!) and after completing those lessons plan to prepare box lunches for workers in offices outside the slums.

Talk about “giving a man/woman a fishing pole and teaching him/her how to fish”…we could not be happier about how our donations were used in both cases!

While reading my usual tzedakah blogs this morning I noted with some pleasure that Harold Grinspoon, the generous benefactor of so many innovative Jewish education programs like PJ Library, has just launched a tzedakah box project. 250,000 colorful tzedakah boxes have been sent to those very children who have been recipients of PJ Library books.

What a great lesson Mr. Grinspoon is teaching with this creative idea; what better way to spread the idea of generosity and giving to our kids? Hanukkah is certainly a time of giving and in that spirit we offer some creative ways you and your families could fill any tzedakah box:

• $54.00 will let Ruthie Sobel Luttenberg of Birthday Angels make a birthday party for an Israeli child who would otherwise do without.
• $36 will help the Jack and Eleanor Borden Kosher Meal Fund provide kosher meals for elderly Jews throughout the U.S.
• $18 will help Fran Held buy diapers for her Diaper Bank at the Mitzvah Circle Foundation.
• $54 will provide some extra support for elderly Survivors in Eastern Europe who are fortunate to receive visits and help from Zane Buzby and the Survivor Mitzvah Project.
• $30 will provide a struggling elderly Jew on NY’s Lower East Side with some extra credit to use at the local grocery store each month.

So, take the mouse that is sitting nearby as you read this and scroll down to the light green border of this page. Click on DONATE NOW and teach your kids about the real miracle of Hanukkah—helping others! We can promise that you will all feel good.

Chag Hanukkah Sameach!