Family care and welfare (Social Assistance)

Ahead of Passover, families, the elderly and infirm form endless lines around food banks and soup kitchens in every Israeli city seeking the basic food stuff necessary for the holiday. There is a 60% rise in the number of persons seeking help compared to last year.

As Israelis are shopping and preparing for the holidays, there are thousands of families that are living below the poverty line that would not be able to put food on their tables. VFI and the JST provide basic food supplies and household items on a weekly basis, to provide for those needy families.

A quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. Many of them are suffering from hunger and lack good nutrition. Nearly 25% of Israeli residents and 36% of children live in impoverished families. It is not just the unemployed. Even families with two bread winners find it impossible to make ends meet.

The greater the need, the greater the effort by VFI and the JST. The most hurting community in Israel, worthy of help, is the southern town of Sderot, for years the target of Hamas terrorist rockets. A lot of factories were closed. A lot of families have become in need. They need food, they need shelter, and they need a lot of financial assistance. Therefore, it is very important that people help us to bring welfare to the society. In coordination with the Sderot Social Welfare Department, VFI and the JST distribute financial assistance to hundreds of needy families, according to family size. These recipients face unemployment or underemployment with large families to feed. A recurrent problem is debt; bank loans are made to cover mounting overdraft and interest payments; it is a vicious circle faced by many in Sderot.

VFI assist families with food, clothing, household supplies, bedding children toys and financial help. It also goes to the Sderot Social Services Department for special projects. These social assistance programs go to Sderot and whatever is needed throughout the country. The donor can help providing money for projects here. For instance, our project for the youth department, the welfare department, and a lot of educational and treatment programs in Sderot and in the area.

Needs are assessed together with social workers and through personal contacts, by visiting families and nursing homes. Through these relationships, one family surplus can meet another need through the JST. A Sderot family donated an entire children's library and the very next day, a Jerusalem family, unable to pay for their children's extra curriculum education, gladly received the books. What a beautiful story it is, when a recipient of aid from VFI and the JST in turn gave us books in order to bless another family in need. A proverb says: “Better is a neighbour nearby than a brother far away.” (Proverbs 27:10). Let’s be good neighbours.

We at VFI and the JST want to embrace those families that are lacking the basic food supplies, simply because they are out of work or are unable to provide for their homes because of other reasons. We want to touch their lives and make a difference for the good.