HOT News

Spring/Summer 2009
In 2003, we founded Hands on Tzedakah. Since that time, we have provided millions of meals to hungry children, thousands of food boxes to indigent families and over 3,000 chickens to poor families for Friday night dinners. We have kept the electricity on and eviction notices at bay for scores of people, renovated bomb shelters in Sderot and Ashkelon, sent tons of food and supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina, provided respite care to families with children with terminal illnesses as well as helped tens of thousands of people through hundreds of other programs and projects. And from the beginning, we have had incredible support by you, our donors.

It is now six years later and people you know, people you are close to, are losing their jobs, often with no hope of finding another. Adult children are over-extended, life savings of retirees are worth half of what they were a year ago. Early retirement is no longer an option and if someone is lucky enough to have a job, it may not be paying what it did a year ago. We thank G-d for our health yet we worry about the stress in our lives, in our children’s lives. We curse Bernie Madoff. We struggle to understand what has happened.

Yet, after all of this and after we help our own families, we must look within ourselves and realize that we still have a lifestyle that most would envy. We ask you to find the resolve to help those who are still far less fortunate than we are. With the markets as bad as they are, charities have lost large portions of their endowments and are receiving less in contributions while far more people are applying for help.

We are giving you a smaller version of the HOT News this season. HOT still supports many of the programs not listed, but with 55% of our contributions being designated by our donors, we eliminated the ones that have had little or no response. We have examined all of our programs and projects and we hope not to have to make some hard decisions at the end of our fiscal year in June. We count on you to not make that happen. Please remember that HOT’s concept is unique. We have no costs of any kind, that are not paid by a special grant from one of our donors, and we do not pay overhead costs, administration or any non-direct costs of our projects. That means every dollar you give, 100% goes to help those in need.

We are already seeing a drastic increase in requests for emergency assistance. These requests are coming from local Jewish and non-sectarian agencies. We are getting requests to help the young and the elderly. We have all read how badly the not for profits that help the needy in Israel have been hard hit by the financial crisis and by ponzi schemes. HOT is not one of them, but we need to buttress our own reserves to be in a position to help the many more who will need our assistance this year and next, because of it.

We encourage you, even if you are one of our regular donors, to read the entire HOT News. Directly under this letter, there is a Table of Contents that describes the 8 areas HOT supports. Within each area, we describe the projects we support by first describing the organization we are working with, then the project, then what HOT has done or will be doing, and then in bold you will see what specific incremental needs can be filled by your gift.

There are many individuals who work on behalf of Hands On Tzedakah. In Israel, we have agents on the ground. While we are committed to visiting Israel regularly, we must have people we trust implicitly to deal with the day-to-day issues of the projects we fund as well as future programs we investigate. We have volunteers who help us and another agent, whom we pay who helps us in providing accountability for our Israeli projects. We also strive to find programs, projects and organizations that can partner with each other.

We think of our donors as investors who are generous, but cost conscious, and like all good investors, want to understand all their investment opportunities, and pick the one that makes the most sense to them. Find out how you can directly contact the people working first-hand on any of our projects.



Very truly yours,

Ronald L. Gallatin Rose B. Robinson
Chairman and Co-Founder President and Co-Founder




This edition of the HOT News includes 65 projects including 13 projects we added in 2008.

The Hungry:

A Sandwich a Day for Every Child

in a country where one-third of the children live below the poverty line.

Our largest program, by far, is our commitment to the hungry children of Israel that reaches 87 schools across Israel and feeds almost 5,100 children a day.

The program started in 2003 when partnered with the elderly women volunteers from the Beit Frankforter Community Center where today they continue to prepare more than 500 meals a day for students from 12 schools in Jerusalem.

Two years ago, it became clear that there was not enough woman power at Beit Frankforter to expand the program. It was then that HOT turned to Table to Table, based in Ra’anana, to take on the expansion that has been funded in large part by one generous donor. Meals are being prepared and delivered daily to 75 schools beyond the Jerusalem area in Tel Aviv, Hadera, Bet Shemesh, Ra’anana, Bat Yam, Ramle, Akko, Haifa, Netanya, Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Chaim, Kiryat Gat, B’nei Brak and Pardes Katz. A full-time volunteer runs the program. She has a rotating cadre of volunteers who either prepare or deliver the meals. Hands On Tzedakah makes frequent trips to Israel and we meet with the men and women who make the sandwiches and pack the lunches. We go along for deliveries, and visit with the principals of recipient schools. This meal is lunch for the students. The principals cannot thank us enough for feeding the children who are now noticeably able to concentrate better.


Thankfully, more and more of our donors are coming forward to designate their HOT donations towards feeding children through the Sandwich a Day Program for Every Child. The need for its continued expansion is more apparent as the program becomes more and more well-known. Unfortunately, there appears to be no cap on hunger. Schools in cities that have not yet been served by this program are contacting Table to Table. We would like to increase the program to 1,000,000 meals a year (5,550 children).

The children receive a large freshly baked roll, filled with either hummus, cheese, chocolate spread or tuna, often accompanied by a fruit or vegetable that comes through Table to Table’s food rescue program. Since the last HOT News, 2 donors have come forward to designate part of their gifts towards feeing children at 2 new schools – one in Jerusalem and one in Haifa. A contribution of $12,528 (at the March 4, 2009 dollar to shekel exchange rate) will permit us to provide another 120 sandwiches a day and take on 2 new schools in Beit She’an and Ma’ale Adumim. Additional designations will help us to continue increasing this program.

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Feeding the Poor Families of the Jerusalem Border Patrol

HOT supplies a monthly “basic food package” (with special supplements for the holidays) to 200 destitute families of soldiers. The soldiers are members of the Jerusalem Border Patrol (the men and women who guard Israel’s borders and prevent terrorist infiltrations) and have been identified by the Army welfare officer as being in severe financial distress. All the food is bought at wholesale or below; all the packages are prepared by volunteers; all the transportation and delivery is carried out by the Army. The food packages include oil, sugar, rice, coffee, canned vegetables, tuna, pasta, canned fruit, juice, sweets and more.

Our September mailing brought in an extra $2,900 in designations for the Border Patrol. We are looking for additional designated contributions to allow us to increase the quality and quantity of the food and products we purchase for the packages. To accomplish this, we need to raise an additional $27,100.

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Feeding the Poor in Boca Raton

Boca Helping Hands is a community-based organization whose mission is solving hunger and crisis situations for the most needy. They run a soup kitchen, a food pantry, supply meals to the homebound and provide over 7,000 sandwiches per month to children in low-income after school programs. They also provide crisis assistance and job mentoring. They work at providing solutions to hunger and poverty in assisting low-income families, the elderly and the homeless in becoming self-reliant. Volunteers are a huge source of manpower in helping to make a difference. The Food Center has been in operation for 10 years and is open 5 days a week. Over the years, HOT purchased a freezer for the Food Center, heavy duty pots and pans and commercial kitchen utensils, a hand truck and meat slicer and a new air conditioner unit for the kitchen; Most of these items were primarily paid for by HOT donor designated contributions. Boca Helping Hands has purchased a new building that will house all their programs in a single location. There are many capital items that are needed to make the build out complete. Beyond that $250 will pay for 100 hot meals to be served in the Food Center; $100 will supply 7 families with a bag of groceries.

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Dave’s Kitchen

Dave Robinson’s Kitchen is in the Givaat Olga section of Hadera, Israel. It was built in the summer of 2007 and was paid for by a grant from HOT. It is a separate structure housed on the grounds of a high school primarily made up of poor Ethiopians. From there 180 lunches are made each day for the students and 200 poor families come by twice a week to pick up prepared food. In the middle of the school year, the school came to HOT because they could not keep up with their food bills. Their thought was to offer lunch only 4 days per week in order to save almost $500 per week. HOT made a ‘deal’ with the school for the rest of the school year whereby HOT paid for 50% of the costs and the parents agreed to pay the other 50% of the cost of the food. We are asking for designated funds in the amount of $9,750 to fund our ‘one-half’ for the next school year.

Fighting Hunger in South Florida

Hunger does not discriminate – it affects people of all religions and it affects children, senior citizens, the unemployed, the mentally and physically challenged, homeless people, the working poor and victims of natural disaster. But children are the largest segment of our society experiencing hunger. Over 295,000 children in South Florida are living in poverty and experiencing hunger everyday. The percentage of children eligible for reduced or free lunches at public schools is staggering: Miami-Dade 59.8%; Broward 48%; Palm Beach 42%. A family of 4 must have income of less than $27,560 for the children to qualify for free lunches.

Approximately 800 not-for-profit food pantries and soup kitchens avail themselves of the Daily Bread Food Bank by purchasing food (from 0 to 18 cents per pound). All bread products and perishables are free. There are many unbudgeted and unmet needs at the Daily Bread Food Bank. In the past HOT has purchased an electric pallet jack (portable forklift), addressed safety concerns in paying for rewiring and installation of light fixtures and most recently, paid for a new refrigeration unit for one of their trucks. The greatest increase in hungry Americans has been among the working poor. We are looking to help those in our own back yard to alleviate at least some of the existence of childhood and adult hunger and want to continue our support to the Daily Bread Food Bank in ways that make a meaningful difference. If history is any guide to the future, the Daily Bread Food Bank will have more unanticipated needs that we will want to fund this year. We expect to need between $6,000 and $10,000 to meet their needs.

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Tova’s Kitchen

Tova’s Kitchen Tova’s Kitchen is located in the Bukharan quarter of Jerusalem. The kitchen is the size of a small shed. Tova continues to cook every Wednesday for a group of elderly men who otherwise wouldn't be getting a hot meat meal. And, as usual, when she is cooking, poor people in the neighborhood stop by and get a plastic 'doggie bag' to go of the same chicken, rice and vegetables. We received $1,200 in designated contributions for Tova’s Kitchen and would like to continue to help with an additional $800 for this year to purchase food and containers.

Ilana’s Kitchen

HOT was approached by Ilana’s Kithcen, an organization that desperately needed a sponsor for their plastic containers to distribute food to the poor and needy families in Israel in the towns of Ra’anana, Kfar Saba and Herzilya. The cost is $300 per month. We are looking for donors to designate their gift towards this cause.

The Poor:

HOT Emergency Assistance Programs

Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service

Millions of people in the United States have lost their jobs, are losing their homes, or simply trying to make ends meet everyday. Unfortunately when the economy is bad there is always a direct correlation to an increase in the need for social services.  During difficult times, people in South Palm Beach County, Florida count on Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service (RRJFS) for help in alleviating their emergency needs. HOT discusses each case with the RRJFS professional and satisfies itself as to the legitimacy and reasonableness of the request and, consistent with our mission, provides help only where all other sources of funding have been exhausted.  Threats of eviction, utility shut off, repossession of a car and non-covered medical and dental expenses are all examples of the catastrophic problems that struggling families encounter. One such case was a family in severe financial distress where the father is a house painter and has not had a job in 6 months.  Although supplementing his income with odd repair jobs, that source of income had diminished too.  The mother is unskilled and works as a cashier in a retail store. The father has put in applications for night shift menial positions. Their two teenage children already had jobs and contributed to paying family household expenses.  The family was behind in their rent, car insurance and electric bill and they were on the verge of being evicted, electricity being disconnected and losing their car insurance due to non-payment.  Four agencies helped out with these bills. HOT paid the last dollars needed to FPL. We would like to raise at least $25,000 to put into The Emergency Assistance Program budget to help specific cases, as they arise.

     

Caridad Center

The mission of the Caridad Center is to upgrade the health, education and living standards for the children and families of agricultural workers, laborers and the underserved. This includes providing subsidies in emergency situations.  HOT continues to answer the call for dire emergency needs that the Caridad Center of Boynton Beach requests of us on a regular basis.  Day laborers cannot find work. Utility and electric bills are overwhelming them. HOT grants range from paying the utility and electric bills to temporary rental assistance, food, and extraordinary medical assistance and like our relationship with Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service, we help only when all other sources have been exhausted.   Caridad’s wish list continues to be funds for Emergency assistance for families and Publix food cards. We need to raise at least an additional $15,000 so that we can expand our help for Caridad’s increasing daily problems and periodic special needs.

     

 

House to House
House to House is a small not for profit organization that helps people in Israel in a very hands-on way.  Their Project Happy Feet provides shoes for school children whose parents do not have the means to provide them (see photo at left). Darla, who runs the organization, buys the shoes to size and distributes them herself to the parents. This past winter, HOT paid for 420 pairs of shoes. Another program she runs, For Women, houses women and children who are victims of abuse.   On average, 3 babies stay at the shelter at any time consuming 12 containers of formula per month.  $4,070 will keep the babies fed for a year. 

     


Doing Things that No One Else will Take On
Rabbi Jonathan Porath, who spent years, traveling between Israel and the Former Soviet Union for JDC, maintains a Klitat (Fund) called Neve Orot for Russian absorption and does things that no one else will take on. Every few months we receive documentation about many of the olim (immigrants) in need of help.  Rabbi Porath’s efforts along with that of his assistant, Russian born Eleanora Shifrin, include looking into each situation thoroughly and spending the time to get to know the people.  The requests range from: Marina, recently diagnosed with a liver disease and who is a mother of 2 children, one who is severely disabled and living at home needs money for medication. Stanislav, an invalid who receives some help from his retired sisters, has unpaid utility bills in the amount of $1,500. The municipality is threatening to disconnect his electricity and water.  These are but 2 cases that range in requests from funds for food, school books, diapers, shoes, and living subsidies. The reasons?  Most often serious illness, being victims of terror or even lack of child support. Our last HOT News brought in an additional $5,000 in designated gifts to help Rabbi Porath with this population’s needs. We would like to raise an additional $5,000 to help for the summer months to come.                

 

     

 

Zev Birger with a Romema family

The Most Basic Needs
We continue to support a program we began assisting in 2003 by helping 25 families in the very poor Romema neighborhood in Jerusalem. Six winters ago, we co-ventured with another organization and bought the families space heaters and have paid the electricity bills each winter since. It is clear that if we did not subsidize the cost of the electricity the heaters would stay off and the apartments would stay cold. The Romema project was begun many years ago with the hope that the children of this neighborhood, although desperately poor, would not end up like so many of their peers – uneducated, involved in lives of crime and continuing the cycle of poverty.  Today, with the financial support of HOT and others, Zev Birger is working to break that cycle.  His wish list includes tutors for children with learning disabilities ($1,800), food ($1,000), emergency assistance (1,600) and college tuition subsidies ($4,600). We have helped with medication for the elderly, emergency assistance and will again be helping with supplements for the Passover holiday.
    

     

Wear Your Difference – Guatemala

Mercado Global is a non-profit fair trade organization whose mission is to link the world’s most rural and economically disadvantaged cooperatives to the US market through a model that provides both fair wages and investments in local educational projects. They provide technology, support and marketing assistance, and enable the members of Guatemalan cooperatives to earn up to five times more than they would otherwise earn within the Guatemalan workplace. Mercado Global invests 100% of its profits from sales into local educational projects, scholarships and school construction.

Mercado Global was our agent on the ground in helping to feed the victims of Hurricane Stan in the fall of 2005.  The matzah covers, matching afikomen bags and Elijah and Miriam Cups that HOT commissioned the past four Passover holidays were made by the economically disadvantaged Guatemalan women through our partnership with Mercado Global.  HOT’s investments in floor looms for weaving cooperatives, larger and hotter stoves for ceramics workers, stainless steel tools for jewelry making and training sessions for artisans has increased their production volume by a factor of four.  With the Levi Strauss Foundation and the Grameen Bank on board, this not-for-profit is becoming an incredible success story.  As Mercado Global’s sales volume has grown, MG found that their partner artisans lacked not only the extra equipment needed, but the administrative, financial and technical skills to take advantage of all the sales opportunities that have come their way. Mercado Global asked HOT to partner with them to make the expansion and training program possible. HOT’s fiscal ‘07 grant included the cost of tools, extra looms, a kiln, transportation, and training classes in financial business literacy.  Several donors have designated funds towards Mercado Global. Our fiscal ’08 grant included the cost of advanced sewing workshops, yarn dyeing, intermediate and advanced jewelry making, reproductive health trainings and legal and accounting trainings for artisan leaders. Mercado Global has a need for financial literacy trainings for 350 artisans ($6,000), Basic co-op trainings for 140 of the newest artisans ($1,200) and Advanced Sewing Workshops ($2,000).

     

Youth at Risk:

Empowering Children to Make Positive Life Choices

The Fiver Children's Foundation is the vision of Tom Tucker, who after reading Richard Adams' Watership Down was inspired, like the main character in the story, to create a safe haven for youth from underserved communities.  Since 2000, Camp Fiver, in New York, has become a life line for kids growing up in the inner city.   Working year-round with a group of motivated educators and college students who inspire and care for the children through the most formative years of their lives, Fiver currently serves children from age 8 through high school graduation. By promoting healthy life choices, enhancing self-efficacy and leadership skills, motivating the children to succeed in school and teaching problem solving and decision-making skills, Fiver minimizes the risk of drug use and altercations with the juvenile justice system; they support involvement in community service; assist teens in gaining summer employment and reach towards 100% high school diplomas and assist in college preparatory counseling or vocational training.  HOT recently made its first grant to the Fiver Children’s Foundation. HOT paid for the building of a staircase and furnished the college preparatory classroom with chairs and tables.  Fiver’s current wish list includes 50 sleeping bags, fifteen 4-person or larger tents, 50 bottles of sunscreen, 100 blankets for twin beds and educational board games. A contribution of $5,700 should pay for everything. 

     

Giving Kids A Chance in Israel

Givat Olga, one of the largest neighborhoods in Hadera, Israel is home to many new immigrants, primarily from Ethiopia.  There we found the Ben Gurion Community Center (also known as EZORIM), an after-school program or ‘home’ to 100 children who begin arriving at 3:00 pm and may stay into the evening as late as 9:00 pm.  Over the last 3 years, HOT renovated the Center by giving it a much needed coat of paint, a microwave, water heater, curtains, books, games, films, audio speakers, desks, chairs, air conditioning and bats and balls.  For the past 2 summers, HOT has paid for field trips (see photo, left) and purchased supplies and computers. One of our donors designated his gift to purchase 3 additional computer stations that were critically needed at  BGCC.  There are still many needs. BGCC would like to renovate the front yard and fill it in with dirt, plant a garden and add some benches ($700). More money is needed for field trips ($2,000) and with summer coming a grant of ($4,000) would go a long way to providing a quality experience for these neighborhood kids.

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Young Caregiving Project
The Caregiving Youth Project is the first regional program in the U.S. that raises public awareness, provides education, conducts research and gives direct support services to caregiving youth and their families.  A Florida-wide survey showed that 12,500 students in grades 6-12 are actually student-caregivers of a family member who is ill, disabled, frail or suffering from substance abuse. These youthful caregivers perform tasks that go beyond chores and require a level of responsibility more appropriate for an adult.  Hands On Tzedakah is a founding sponsor of this organization. The Caregiving Youth Project was recently featured in the New York Times.

The Caregiving Youth Project is requesting help to provide scholarships for these youth to have a camp experience in the summer. The scholarship amounts range from $355 to $700. Without an activity, kids do not get the break that they do during a school day from their family responsibilities and the summer becomes more difficult for them. They also need a color copier and supplies ($1,500) and a new computer ($600).

 

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 Crossroads

Crossroads is an intervention program in Jerusalem that helps English-speaking teenagers who are having difficulty acclimating to Israeli life. The Crossroads Center serves 30-60 teens daily, 150-200 teens weekly and over 700 teens in the course of a year. In the past, HOT funded a Crossroads class called: Networking: An Introduction to Web Design.  The curriculum included learning basics about web design, as well as learning different programs dealing with graphics and music.  The 'Networking' class provided these teens with the skills and confidence to succeed.  

HOT also supported a Crossroads program called Scholastic Support.  Many at-risk English-speaking teens in Israel flounder academically.  Many have learning disabilities, often undiagnosed.  They are fed up with learning—or, more accurately, fed up with themselves.  They have no faith in their intelligence and see no value in attending classes, since no matter what they do, they fail.  To fill this socioacademic gap, the Crossroads Center offered such teens Scholastic Support that encompassed testing for learning disabilities, academic texts and supplies, intensive preparatory classes, tutoring, guidance and financial assistance for registering for standardized tests.  HOTtook $9,000 from general funds and helped 22 teens succeed academically.  Crossroads wants to continue this successful program that has so far yielded 12 teens that have passed their GED (high school equivalency diploma) with 10 more scheduled to take the exam in the next 6 months. The request for a new class of 34 teens is $10,525.

Crossroads also helps kids find suitable jobs by providing information, guidance, and support throughout the process of finding a job or career. Crossroads hopes to pilot the Teen Internship Project, where paid teen internships will be offered in Jerusalem-based businesses. The hope is to provide an entrance into careers that might not have been available to an at-risk teen and give them the first chance to build up their resume, receive reviews and recommendations and gain experience. Crossroads seeks $7,500 of direct expense support of The Employment Center Teen Internship Project. 

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel


Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel continually recruits  and trains new volunteer mentors so that lonely children from single-parent families will be assured of a Big Brother or Sister. Their goal is not just to create matches but to ensure that these pairs stay together for years and BBBS provides the necessary support to do so.  The kids are ages 5 to 18 and the volunteers are from 10 to 60.  Lots of time is spent on making the proper match. There is a police check, orientation and supervision for the first meeting.  The volunteers want help in providing social experiences with the kids.  Their new Jerusalem Clubhouse also houses the offices and it is terrific. Last summer, HOT  helped out for the summer activities with a $5,000 grant that subsidized the more destitute of the Little Brothers, many of them whose mothers were in the Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence.

With summer 2009 upon us and 70% of the families requiring assistance, the dollars needed for subsidizing the summer program has doubled to $10,000. There are additional requests during the school year that include lots of ‘fun,’ Field trips for all the children and their Big Brothers or Sisters ($2,000 per trip @ 4 = $8,000), 11 visit pass to the pool ($175 @ 20 children = $3,500), an after school program for gifted children ($500 @ 4 children = $2,000).

 

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Mobile Labs Help Rural Kids Learn
Ofanim is a non-profit organization, which seeks to fight against the lack of equality of opportunity in education by giving children from Israel’s outlying regions and disadvantaged neighborhoods, as well as children living in absorption dormitories, the opportunity for stimulation, exposure to new ideas, and enrichment through the use of mobile laboratories. In these labs (busses), equipped with cutting-edge technology, Ofanim is able to help the children advance, improve their self-worth and strengthen their understanding. In addition, Ofanim works to introduce children to institutions of higher learning, through tours, lectures and meetings with local business leaders.

HOT has paid for 6 laptop computers at $1,300 each. Over the last two years the number of children being served by Ofanim has grown from 90 to 600 being served each week. The Ofanim wish list includes:  2 digital cameras at a  cost of $200 each ($400); science kits for 120 children at $69 each ($8,280).
 

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Children’s Group Home
Merav Children’s Group Home on Kibbutz Merav in Gilboa, Israel is a home for children who have been removed from their distressed home environments by the State’s social service agencies.  Although each child receives a limited government stipend, donations are needed to provide all the necessary physical and emotional support they need. Our most recent grant paid for a new dishwasher, sheets for all the children and a desk and wall unit. This was from a designated contribution. In the past, HOT  has supplied the home with 2 new air conditioners, a boiler, a ping pong table, an oven and 2 complete computer stations. Their wish list includes new books for their library ($250), 4 new book cases ($1,800), new upholstery for 2 couches ($450), a fresh coat of paint for the interior of the house ($2,000) and new board games ($360).

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Turning Obstacles into Stepping Stones

Shearim Netanya is a small non-profit organization dedicated to helping Russian immigrants of all ages in Israel. During the school year they operate a small day care center with breakfast and lunch for children ages 2 to 5 and run afternoon activities for school age children considered youth at risk.  Every 10th child in Israel is a new immigrant. A third come from single parent families and live below the poverty level. We have seen the difference HOT makes with extras for the program like tables and chairs, musical instruments and educational toys.

This school year budget for the day care center and after care program for the older children was severely under funded. HOT is helping SN apply for outside funding for the school year programs.  We renew our plea to replenish an emergency assistance fund in the amount of $10,000 for necessities like food, clothing and medication that was initially set up through the benevolence of one of our donors. Summer is coming and HOThopes to raise $15,000 that will pay for the critical summer care activity for children of single parent families.

 

The Elderly

Holocaust Survivor Programs

Survivor Assistance Program – South Palm Beach County, Florida

Approximately 35 to 40 percent of Holocaust survivors in Florida live at or near the poverty level. According to a 2000 National Demographic Study, survivor's median income is about one-third of the income of other elders in the same age group. The goal of the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service Holocaust Survivor Program is to enable survivors to live out their lives in their own homes, safely and with dignity. Because of the horrors experienced at the hands of the Nazis, Survivors do not fare well in congregate care facilities, such as nursing homes. Removing Survivors from their homes and placing them in such facilities often causes flashbacks of the war and Nazi persecution.

The program helps provide for the needs of South Palm Beach County Holocaust Survivors by focusing on maintaining a safe environment, including socialization, and assisting with medical and nutritional needs. They arrange for home health care and cleaning services and are committed to the concept of "aging in place" by enabling these older individuals to maintain independent lives in the community for as long as possible.

The Claims Conference and the Area Agency on Aging supply most of the funds, but the number of Survivors asking for help increased almost three-fold in one year.  As survivors become older they are becoming frailer and are requiring even more services. When this is combined with the economy becoming worse, RRJFS anticipates an even greater increase in survivors requesting services.  On average it will cost $5,230 annually to provide the minimum necessary home health care and other services to one Survivor. We are trying to raise enough funds to cover the program for 28 additional survivors.

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Project Dignity
House to House (see page 8) also helps Holocaust Survivors through their Project Dignity with necessities in life like electricity in the winter, food and certain medications not covered by national insurance.  It has become a huge project for House to House as the Israel Department of Ageing has turned to them for help. There are thousands of Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem living in poverty, meaning they are unable to provide the necessities of life for themselves. HOT would like to begin with a fund of $18,000 for Survivors.

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Emergency Call Buttons– Israel
Of the 231,000 Holocaust Survivors living in Israel – 60,000 are economically needy. The Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel covers all of Israel and provides homecare to disabled Holocaust Survivors, emergency lifeline buttons, individual grants for items not covered by Israeli National Health programs and emergency funds.  In addition to supplementing the basic services provided by the government of Israel, the Foundation runs programs to keep the plight of needy Survivors in the forefront of the public agenda.

The Foundation is urgently looking for money to help 2,000 Survivors.  The program provides each Survivor with severe medical problems or who  lives alone with an emergency life button for free.  This button allows them to call for help through a bracelet they wear and also to get a doctor or ambulance for a fee of $39 per year. Over the last two years, Hands On Tzedakah made grants to pay the fee for 352 emergency life care buttons of which 252 were designated gifts by our donors. There are hundreds of needy survivors who do not have these buttons that cost $71 per Survivor plus the additional $39 annual fee, per year.


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HAMA - Humans and Animals in Mutual Assistance

Animal assisted therapy (AAT) uses dogs and cats in the treatment of chronic post traumatic stress syndrome with elderly schizophrenic patients. It is documented that  through animal-human interactions that patients become more aware and begin to reveal the deepest pain that troubles and often paralyzes them as human beings. Avshalom Beni is the director of HAMA in Israel. He runs therapy sessions for Holocaust Survivors at the Abarbanel Mental Health Center. These are Shoah survivors living in institutions who have never recovered from the horrors of their earlier life.  AAT encourages mobility, interpersonal contact, and communication with a special emphasis on the retention, recall, and organized integration of memory. Feline and canine companions elicit memories, facilitate their integration, and provide a sense of coherency and order to time and events. Many of the patients establish strong empathy with a particular animal companion and have through this initial bonding been able to reach out to other patients in a mutually nurturing and caring relationship. AAT provides something that has been missing in the patients' lives -- the gift of self empowerment. By understanding, caring, and healing the pains, fears, or vulnerabilities of their canine and feline companions, the patients have demonstrated to themselves the value of their own lives and the ability to reach out and nurture another one.  A contribution of $5,000 will pay for 3 months of weekly animal assisted therapy for 10 people.

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Innovative Retirement
As people live longer, it is imperative to help keep our elders physically and mentally active, to ease their poverty and provide them with a feeling of self-worth, respect, dignity and social equality.  Changing the status and image of the elderly from dependent, weak and vulnerable -  to productive, capable and useful - are tenets that CLICK (Community Leadership & Intervention in Crisis for Kids & the Elderly) in Hod Hasharon, Israel strives for.  HOT’s prior support to CLICK includes the air conditioning in their building and partnering with the JDC to fund a business plan.
With the help of dedicated volunteers and skilled professionals, a wide variety of social, cultural and vocational services are provided for the elderly through CLICK.  In this poor economy, when we have told you that critical needs are greater than ever, on its face, these services may sound like unnecessary ‘extras.’ But mental health is vital to keeping the body strong and the mind sharp. This year, HOT  has given CLICK a grant for $5,033 which paid for a sewing machine, irons and ironing boards, pillows, a bed and a drama therapy program that runs once a week for 12 months and will serve to boost the moral of 35 elders. There are more items on CLICK’s wish list including physiotherapy for 35 elders ($4,647), Community garden equipment ($1,053), and animal therapy ($3,793).  HOT also would like to establish the HOT Transportation Fund at CLICK in the amount of $10,000 to help ease the burden of bringing elders in wheelchairs to CLICK.  

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Breaking Down the Walls of Loneliness and Isolation
Project Ezra serves the frail elderly on New York’s Lower East Side.  Over 400 elderly who suffer from economic, physical and/or psychological difficulties are being helped by services provided through Project Ezra. Some of Project Ezra’s services include direct relief to those whose Social Security benefits are insufficient to last the entire month, group programs and outings, intergenerational programs held at synagogues, housekeeping services, volunteer home visits, transportation, a food pantry, food package distribution at holiday time and a burial fund.
A passionate request was made that we  continue to buy Tofutti ice cream for the Project Ezra elders. The federally-subsidized meat luncheons the elders eat at the Center group cost only $1.00 each, and the desserts that come with those lunches are canned fruit compote.  From the director of Project Ezra, “Most of our elders who had our Tofutti this past year look forward to this dessert—indeed, this Tofutti makes their day a little more satisfying.”  100 desserts are given out each week. We need $2,500 to continue this weekly treat for so many and $5,000 to meet the emergency assistance needs of these elders. 

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Come My Friend

Prior to 2007, twice a month, Shearim Netanya held evening functions that benefited the lonesome and needy elderly. The occasion always included a hot meal, entertainment, dancing, pep-talk and heartwarming socializing, for a nominal price to its participants. When the outside funding for the program was diverted to matters of security, Shearim raised their prices and held these events sporadically. Attendance dropped due to increased cost to its participants and their lack of knowledge as to when the infrequent evenings would be held. Shearim Netanya (also operates the Turning Obstacles into Stepping Stones (see page 15)) believes the Come My Friend program to be a significant activity for this population – “giving them an injection of renewed energy and a lust for life.”  HOTwas asked to fund the program for 6 months with evening activities twice per month for $10,000. Instead we agreed to once a month for a year and are asking our donors to commit to the other $10,000 so that the elderly in Netanya can have their special evenings twice a month for a year. 

Special Needs:

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Touch the Life of a Medically Fragile Child
The NJ Pediatric Patients Charitable Trust Fund is dedicated to providing funding for the acquisition of recreational, educational, and/or adaptive equipment, home modifications and specialized services, that will enrich the lives of the medically fragile / special needs children of Southern New Jersey. HOT made a grant last summer that benefited 6 children by providing swingsets, a treadmill, baby monitoring system, and a special computer. The children’s disabilities range from a brain tumor, to down syndrome, to autism. The NJPPCTF policy is that no child receives more than $1,200 in funding. The organization anticipates receiving approximately 40 requests this year. HOT would like to help more children and families in need and are looking to raise $12,000 for this program.

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Special Needs Training for Very Special High School Students

Four years ago, HOT began supplementing a job-training program in Martin County, Florida where 27 developmentally disabled high school seniors interned at local businesses.  HOT’s grant pays the students nominal wages based on their performance and diligence. A total of 52 children now participate and are learning about ‘real life.’  The children open savings accounts through the program and save a portion of the money they earn that goes towards a year-end trip. Additionally, a group of children will be sent to participate in the local and state Special Olympics and HOT  will help defray those costs with a grant of $1,500. We hope to receive at least $2,500 in additional designated gifts to continue supplying extras for these programs.


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Shutaf – “Partner” in Hebrew

Two American moms who now call Jerusalem their home could find no suitable summer program for their special needs kids.  In summer 2007, they took it upon themselves to start a special needs day camp with the help of the staff, and use of the premises, of the Ein Yael Living Museum in Jerusalem.  HOT helped sponsor that week long camp and one of our  donors subsidized the 2007 Chanukah day camp.  Shutaf built on their success and expanded the Shutaf Vacation Camp to 3 weeks last summer.  Shutaf camps operate during Chanukah, Passover and Summer vacations, serving close to 50 children (75% special needs and 25% typical) and 10 young adults with special needs. Shutaf is modeling a new kind of co-existence, creating a special place of inclusion both religious and social for all. HOT has given Shutaf a $6,000 grant for each of their vacation camps this past year.  Their wish list includes:  Summer pre-camp staff training and development ($1,500), pool entry and transportation for 80 people during summer camp for four visits ($4,000) and three therapeutic horseback riding sessions for 40 campers ($7,500).   

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Me and My Mommy
Hands On Tzedakah continues to support the families at Shalva, a center for mentally and physically challenged children in Israel.  Their Mommy and Me program includes 120 special needs babies and their mothers. It is very difficult for mothers to travel alone, often far distances, carrying an infant in one arm, a diaper bag and stroller in the other.  The HOT Transportation Fund helps moms get to Shalva in the cold of winter and the heat of summer. We want to raise an additional $3,600 to help more mothers and ease the extra burden this group of families face. 


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Best Buddies
The Best Buddies program matches students with developmental disabilities with students on a regular track. They become buddies in high school and spend time together socially with after school projects and fun.  HOT will continue to sponsor the chapter in Martin County, Florida that has grown to 28 buddy pairs (56 members).  We are looking to raise $6,000 for next school year’s activities which include float building for homecoming, movie nights, Thanksgiving luncheon, pool party and picnic, a friendship ball, a baseball game and their high school proms.


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Exercising Muscles and Spirit
“I love this and I am good at it.”  Pal-O-Mine Equestrian Center in New York provides therapeutic, recreational and competitive horseback riding to physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled individuals of all ages.  Equine therapy is giving these individuals a sense of independence and something to feel proud about.  Hands On Tzedakah increased its support to $6,000 last year. A donation of $2,500 provides complete support (lessons, therapy, and competitions) for one rider for an entire year. Additionally, Pal-O-Mine’s wish list includes adaptive saddles and reins ($3,800), tables and chairs for the classroom ($3,000), fly spray, mineral blocks and supplements for the horses ($2,000).



Compassionate Care:

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Camp Sunshine
Camp Sunshine in Maine, is a retreat for children, with life threatening illnesses, and their families.  It runs year round and provides recreation and group support and focuses on alleviating the strain a critical illness takes not only on the ill child, but on other members of the immediate family. There are no fees to attend the camp, but the families must provide their own transportation.  Those families that live in the northeast are able to drive to the Camp. But those who live far away often cannot attend, because of the high cost of transportation.  For summer 2008, HOT offered Camp Sunshine a $10,000 matching grant for transportation costs for families coming from Southeast Florida. Our grant was matched by jetBlue Airways and 29 families from Florida attended Camp Sunshine in 2008 – up from 19 in 2007. Camp Sunshine runs year round with just a few weeks off during the worst winter weather. We have received word that our assistance is needed more than ever as the downturn in the economy is effecting these families. Imagine losing a job while having to care for a sick child.  Most working families with sick children do all they can to make ends meet. These families are devastated emotionally, financially, physically -  making Camp Sunshine a respite that is all the more vital and important. HOT  has committed $12,000 to Camp Sunshine for 2009 including $6,000 of designated funds from one of our generous donors.  We would like to increase that amount by another $6,000 so that we can meet the transportation needs of other families facing a child’s critical illness and so much in need of family respite care. 

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Vocational Training Workshops
The Summit Institute established the Supportive Vocational Center several years ago and works with young Israelis aged 18 to 40. All participants have a history of psychiatric illness and come from either Summit’s live-in therapeutic communities or are local Jerusalem residents. There are 4 workshops (office and computer training, sewing, carpentry and assembly, packaging and mailing).  A few years ago Hands On Tzedakah equipped the sewing workshop and we have seen first-hand the products being produced.  A wish list of the Vocations Center needs include:  software with enlarged functions for the embroidery sewing machine ($1,250), an additional sewing machine ($1,125), an additional overlock sewing machine ($875), a kit instrument for various functions at the sewing workshop ($375); a professional electric jigsaw, a Japanese hammer drill, hand plane machine, electric drill, hand drills, diametric rotor and a polishing band for the carpentry workshop ($1,664); 30 chairs at the assembly and packing workshop ($1,250).


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Mental Health/ Mental Wellness Boynton Beach, Florida
Over two years ago, Hands On Tzedakah formed a partnership with Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service (RRJFS) of South Palm Beach County, Florida and the Caridad Center (formerly known as the Migrant Association of South Florida).  HOT is funding a half-time clinical social worker who is addressing the needs of the patients (clients) at Caridad by providing mental help assessment and treatment and educating volunteers, physicians and other Center staff about mental health issues and ways of identifying and referring people for assessment. The clinician is supervised by RRJFS.  While Caridad has traditionally provided free medical and dental care to a large population of migrant farm workers, laborers and the working poor of Palm Beach County, they have not had the ability to offer more than intermittent mental health care.  Bringing these two organizations together to work in tandem fulfills HOT’s mission of both supporting essential life sustaining programs and collaborating with agencies that dedicate themselves to helping others.  We need to raise an additional $35,000 so that we can continue to pay for the clinical social worker.

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Mental Health/ Mental Wellness Israel
Bayit Cham is a non-profit organization that provides mental health services in Israel. Their initial concentration was promoting the recovery of people with mental health challenges by  giving them job coaches and then placing them in the mainstream workplace.  There are more than 240 people working, interacting and feeling self-worth, rather than sitting at home doing nothing and going back and forth between home - hospital – home. Bayit Cham’s vocational rehabilitation programs operate in tens of cities in Israel, serving all sectors. Transportation to and from the workplace is an expensive obstacle. HOT pays the bus transportation for 14 individuals to get to work.

Bayit Cham has expanded their work beyond vocational rehabilitation and is striving to arouse public mental health awareness.  Bayit Cham has established awareness, early-intervention and treatment programs, a help-line and mental health awareness seminars throughout Israel. Hands On Tzedakah contributed the final funds needed to open a new Center in Jerusalem with a designated gift by a HOTdonor of $10,000 and an additional $17,500 coming from our general funds.  For many, this will be a place where small problems are addressed before they get out of control, and for others it means drawing up and beginning a long-term treatment plan. At the new Jerusalem Mental Wellness Center, Bayit Cham would like to establish a program for children and adolescents suffering from low self-esteem, depression and eating disorders called Help a Child Achieve Mental Health.  It is BC’s policy that a family must pay  towards treatment to prove commitment.  After deducting the government health funds and the families’ payment of fees, the balance for evaluations and therapy sessions  needed to be raised is $2,400 per child.  There are 75 children who need this program.  HOT continues to support the transportation program from its general funds. We hope our donors will designate gifts to be used to support evaluation and therapy sessions.

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VetDogs®

More than 30,000 US soldiers have been wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan and over 3,000 of them are severely wounded with life altering injuries that include amputated limbs, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, blindness, paralysis, serious burns and post traumatic stress disorder. Veterans Helping Today’s Returning Heroes raises funds for the express purpose of providing professionally trained assistance dogs exclusively for these military heroes.  There is no Federal government program to provide specially trained guide or service dogs for our severely wounded returning military veterans.  Approximately 250 puppies are bred and raised each year but 2/3 of the dogs fail to meet the exhaustive and lengthy training program. The cost to breed, train, and place a guide or service dog with a severely disabled war veteran, combined with the training of the new owner is $30,000 per dog and the average working life of an assistance dog is between seven and ten years.  HOTfeels that America needs to help its returning soldiers. Since our last edition of the HOT News, one more donorcame forward and designated $5,000 to VetDogs® making our total grant $21,100.  We are hoping that additional donors will make up the $8,900 necessary to supply a "partner" to a young man or woman who was severely injured in the service of our Country.

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Helping Jerusalem’s Oldest Hospital
Bikur Cholim is a hospital in the heart of Jerusalem. Situated outside the walls of the Old City, it is the only hospital in the center of Israel’s capital.  While well over 1,300 casualties of the terrorist attacks during the intifada received treatment in their emergency room, 40,000 people seek treatment at the Emergency Department of the hospital each year. HOT continues to support the hospital’s equipment needs and recently bought Bikur Cholim a rhinometer, a machine that locates and evaluates blockages.  The former one was broken and could no longer be used for necessary testing and therefore surgeries had to be cancelled indefinitely. The head of the ENT Department of the hospital is very grateful for HOT’s grant and the ability to resume testing and follow up. Bikur Cholim is in need of an operating room light for the NICU ($12,000), ultrasonic equipment for cleaning tools in the operating room ($12,000) and an intermediate care incubator for the NICU ($18,000).

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What Insurance Doesn't Cover   

We have relationships with hospital social workers that work in the main hospitals in Jerusalem. Our agents, the social workers, identify those in need and Hands On Tzedakah is given the opportunity to make it easier for those who have fallen on the most difficult of times.  For a young girl from the Ukraine in the hospital in isolation, we purchased a laptop computer. The laptop will remain with the social worker and she will lend it out to people in the isolation unit as needed.  We would like to expand our budget by $5,000 this year, to help more individuals and families in desperate need.

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Of Home, Family and Future

New York based Of Home, Family and Future, offers grants for both long-term affordable housing and support services to women and children affected by domestic violence and to support a successful college experience for high school students currently living in residential treatment centers. They have recently expanded their domestic violence initiative through a partnership with Safe Space in Manhattan. Up to $30,000 is spent per family per year in an effort to supply services that can be transformative, helping to create economically viable and emotionally stable families. Within that amount, there are specific needs:  $250 will pay for job counseling for one woman; $500 will help outfit a woman for work; $2,500 will pay for three months of childcare; $2,500 will enable a woman or her child to receive psychological services for one year.

Student Community Service Projects:

The Hands On Tzedakah Community Service Program
The Hands On Tzedakah Community Service Program gives high school and college school students the opportunity to use their initiative to design and to implement community service projects.  Hands On Tzedakah provides the “start-up” money for the students’ projects, and when necessary, will assist monetarily in continuing to subsidize projects.  The greatest consideration is given to projects that include collaborations and use the grant as leverage to improve/save lives. There is little doubt that these experiences, in addition to serving the community today, will result in the students becoming caring and philanthropic members of society.  Some of the projects already funded are:

We would like to continue funding Community Service Projects and hope our donors will designate  up to $50,000 for us to have the funds to consider new programs.

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Victims of War and Terror:

The Attacks From Gaza
In late December 2008, near Gaza, in towns like Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ofakim, school was closed “until further notice.” The kids who live in these towns did not get back to school until mid-January.  The Israeli – Hamas truce that had begun on June 19, 2008 formally expired on December 19, 2008. For the first four months of the cease fire, Hamas fired 14 missiles and rockets into Israel.  The intensity of the attacks increased and from November 1st to December 26th (7 days after the truce ended)  the terrorists launched 359 Qassam rockets and mortar shells into Southern Israel.  The Hamas attacks were intended to kill, maim and scare as many innocent children, women and men as possible. On December 27, 2008, Israel responded with Operation Cast Lead.

As the rockets intensified, more than 1,000 children were bussed away daily from the South to Beit Shemesh, Kfar Saba, Jerusalem, Haifa and Netanya to attend "make-shift" schools that were set up at various buildings and institutions. Teachers from the South and local volunteers helped with the schooling. The kids were away from their homes from 8 am to 4 pm or longer – without any provisions to eat.  HOT contacted the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, who within an hour, agreed to partner with HOT , in supplying almost 5,000 hot meals to these kids.

Beyond food, our close relationship with our people on the ground in Ashkelon made the missiles feel especially ‘close to home.’ Our good friend Sigal, who worked with us in renovating 2 bomb shelters there, sat with her in-laws at her home, and saw her in-laws missile-leveled house on TV. But she kept working and the dual use Hands On Tzedakah Youth Training and Leadership Center had to be used for its original purpose – that of a bomb shelter. In fact, Shimon Peres, Bibi Netanyahu and others came to Ashkelon to see the city function in these difficult times.  They visited the teens volunteers (in our shelter) who were taking care of the children whose parents had to work and wanted them in a safe, protected place. During that time, HOT  bought pens, crayons, arts and craft kits, glue, etc., as well as board games and other supplies that were used to keep the kids busy. We used both general funds and the designated donations from five of our regular donors who knew we would find a way to help some of the 600,000 Israelis within the range of Hamas rockets.  Another shelter that we are in the process of refurbishing to be used as a store for indigent teens in Ashkelon, was open to the public and used as an overnight shelter. All seven of the bomb shelters we renovated for dual use in Sderot were fully in use as bomb shelters. Thank you for your support of Hands On Tzedakah’s efforts in the South, and indeed, throughout Israel during these troubled times.  Sadly, we would like to encourage designated contributions for HOT to use in times of crisis and/or for victims of war and terror (as we write this, still another bulldozer was used today by a Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem.)

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When Terror Strikes There Are So Many Victims
Since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000 and prior to Israel’s month-long Second Lebanon (“Hezbollah”) War in 2006, over 1,000 Israelis were killed by Palestinian militant terrorists. HOT  works with many organizations and social workers in Israel who provide support to victims of terror and their families. This relief comes in the form of food, clothing, transportation to therapy, rent, re-training and more.  The effects of terror from the second intifada were not over when victims left the hospital.  HOT has been called a partner in healing.  We would like to expand our budget by $5,000 this year, to help more individuals and families affected by the second intifada who continue to suffer the long-term after-effects of terrorism.

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Widowed In All But Name
A mother with a daughter, whose fiancée was killed four months before they were to be married, took it upon herself to find a way for that daughter to cope and rebuild her life.  That was in 1997; that was “Group 1.”  In late 2003, Hands On Tzedakah made a grant to support “Group 12” of the Organization to Support the Fiancées of Fallen Soldiers of the Israel Defense Force.  “Group 16” opened in April 2006 and Hands On Tzedakah funded it. A professional therapist meets with the girlfriends and boyfriends of the fallen soldiers individually and then in a group setting for 2 hours per week for one year.  The Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006 produced many more young women facing the most terrible tragedy and trauma of their young lives. “Group 17” and “Group 18” were formed and Hands On Tzedakah once again ‘stepped-up’ and sent funds so the groups could begin.

Group 18 was paid for by a designated contribution by one of our donors. Unfortunately, there is now a Group 19 and Hands On Tzedakah had committed to fund it through December 31, 2008. Luckily, a donor came forward and contributed the funds necessary to continue the group for an additional 6 months as well as paying for some of the fiancées private therapy.

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