12 Leket Israel – Israel’s National Food Bank In addition to its Sandwich Program (pages 9 and 10), Leket Israel (Leket) “rescues” food from more than 300 large caterers, hotels, corporate cafeterias, and IDF bases, and distributes it to community centers for the elderly, soup kitchens and schools for youth at risk. AND it utilizes thousands of volunteers who “glean” the fields (pick produce from farms where the owners fulfill their biblical obligation to donate part of their crop to people in need). Leket also rescues excess food from more than 1,000 food producers. In 2017, it collected and distributed more than 38,000,000 pounds of food to more than 200 charities and food banks in Israel. Leket has warehouses strategically located where they can refrigerate and quickly distribute (i) the fruits and vegetables picked by their more than 50,000 volunteers (including visitors to Israel who work for a morning or afternoon), (ii) rescued prepared food, and (iii) short dated packaged food products contributed by stores and manufacturers. Leket also runs programs helping hundreds of NGO’s to better understand proper nutrition. HOT has made grants to Leket to purchase a tractor, forklifts, an automated produce sorting machine, packing crates, a 4x4 for the fields, refrigeration units, an automatic door to ensure constant temperature in refrigeration areas increasing the shelf life of produce, and much much more to help the Israeli Soup Kitchens and Food Banks that Leket serves. All of these grants went through a rigorous analysis to satisfy HOT that the increased production resulting from our grants would be a multiple of the grants. A refrigerated van that we funded last year brings meals from a hotel, a corporate cafeteria, Police Headquarters, and Border Patrol cafeterias to a “Last Chance High School,” to a soup kitchen that feeds the poor, and delivers food to the homebound. The van delivers 7,300 meals a month valued at $5 per meal or $438,000 of meals per year. HOT’s $40,000 matched grant produced an 11-1 return in just the van’s first year of use. HOT also funded a $30,226 forklift to replace a 12-year- old forklift that was continually breaking down. Leket estimates that the efficiencies of the newer model and avoidance of downtime will permit $130,000 of food to be distributed annually. Leket’s current needs are • $2,000 for two $1,000 hand operated lifting jacks for NPO’s handling tons of food • $4,500 for 20 thermal carrying containers @ $225 per to rescue food from 10 army bases • $75,000 for a 4x4 truck and trailer to tow produce and equipment in the south of Israel where Leket is in the process of expanding its operation.