51 The Many Victims of War, Terror and Natural Disasters: • Widowed In All But Name (pages 51-52) • 2014 Gaza War (p. 53-54) • Disaster Strikes Haiti AGAIN (p. 55-56) • 2014 Israel Emergency Campaign (p. 57) • HOT Emergency Fund for Victims of Terror & Natural Disasters – Prior Years (p. 58) Widowed In All But Name In 1997, a 23-year-old young woman’s fiancée, while serving in the Israel Defense Force, was killed in action in Lebanon, 4 months before they were to be married. Her mother and her sister found a way to help her cope and rebuild her life by forming the Organization for the Emotional Support of Fiancées of Fallen Soldiers of the Israel Defense Force (“Widowed in all but Name”). At that time, “Group 1,” a group of 10 fiancées whose loved ones were killed in action, began to meet for two hours per week with a professional therapist trained in bereavement. The group counseling lasted for approximately one year. They are now up to 29 support groups, 2 of which (Groups 24 and 25) were formed in September 2014, immediately after what has been an inconsistent cease-fire on the Gaza border. The stories of the girls in Groups 24 and 25 are painful with several of them having wedding dates planned for that fall, and one who suffered the loss of her fiancée just weeks before what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Both of these groups were funded by a donor to HOT who several years ago pledged that if, G-d forbid, there was ever the need for additional groups he insisted on paying for them. When the one year of group therapy ended, many of the girls needed – and, in some cases, are still getting – private therapy. A different donor to HOT came forward during the war to fund 182 hours of private therapy. The Israeli government has accepted some responsibility for helping these girls and the organization is able to get some reimbursement for therapy; BUT the reimbursement procedure is somewhat bizarre in that Widowed In All But Name can only get back a percentage of the direct therapy limited to its good faith estimate of therapy hours at the beginning of each year (yes, that’s right, there was minimal reimbursement for the cost of therapy for the girls in the two support groups established immediately after the 2014 Gaza