Approaching Rosh Hashana: Thousands of food packages were prepared and distributed to Holocaust survivors and underprivileged families in an extensive and unprecedented operation by Yad Ezer L’Haver in Haifa ● The association will continue to distribute packages until the Holiday Eve and calls on the general public to open their hearts, help and contribute Call* 8602
To watch an impressive video of our organization’s volunteers packaging food boxes for the needy, click here !The association's CEO, Sabag: "Undeterred by the corona crisis, we broke all records of food distribution for Rosh Hashana this year. In the last years the number of the needy and underprivileged has only grown and intensified. The organization will leave no one hungry on the holidays"!
Difficult, challenging and troublesome times such as never before are upon us, brought on by the corona pandemic that is raging in Israel for over half a year. Unfortunately, no one knows when this difficult health crisis and economic situation will end. Thousands of Holocaust survivors, the elderly, incapacitated and needy families in the city of Haifa, the Krayot and the northern region in general have no food for Rosh Hashanah and the approaching holiday season, already on their doorstep, coming on September 18.
In preparation for Rosh Hashanah and the Tishrei high holidays, Yad Ezer L’Haver has a long-standing tradition since its inception more than 3 decades ago of substantial food collection and distribution to Holocaust survivors, single mothers, low-income and needy families, unable to set the festive holiday table. Our volunteers are working nightly in a comprehensive and extensive logistical organization in packing and distributing thousands of food packages.
Yad Ezer L’Haver opened an operations center in its huge food depot and Haifa food storage center which had already been set up for this project about two months before Rosh Hashanah.
Collection, packing and distribution of the food baskets was done with the help of hundreds of volunteers recruited by the organization. Among our volunteers we are proud to count a large group of policemen from the Hadar quarter of the Haifa police, the Border Police, the youth team of the Maccabi Haifa football club and the A children's team of the "Maccabi Neve Sha'anan Eldad" football club.
This year Mr. Shimon Sabag the founder and CEO of Yad Ezer L’Haver has decided to modify our food baskets distribution and add small personal food packages to the selection of large family food packages that contain most essential home products. Our basic family food basket includes wine, oil, sugar , salt, canned food, coffee, chicken soup, chocolate spread, ketchup, tuna, sardines, cakes, as well as large quantities of meat, poultry and fish stored in our new, modern cold storage warehouses, recently established in our main depot in Haifa. In addition to the basic food baskets, families will receive vegetable bags with potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, zucchini, carrots, lettuce and a wide variety of different and fine vegetables. The cost and value of a small food package will exceed 200 NIS while the cost of a large family food package will exceed 500 NIS.
It should be noted that the organization recently purchased 20 new motorcycles the first five of which have already made their way around the city of Haifa. The new biker unit will operate as an elite unit and provide an initial and quick response for distribution of food packages, including hot food, medicines, etc. that will be distributed for the benefit of the community in the Haifa Krayot and northern area.
This morning (Wednesday, September 9), during the hectic preparations for packing food packages in one of the organization’s main food depots in Haifa, the founder and CEO of Yad Ezer L’Haver, Mr. Shimon Sabag, stated with great feeling: " The rate of requests for small and large family food packages has skyrocketed, increasing by hundreds of percent due to the Corona pandemic, the number of the poor is increasing and the donations to aid organizations have greatly decreased. Moreover, if before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic families were ashamed to ask for food baskets, now that one of the household members is on unpaid leave or fired, they are no longer ashamed to approach us for help. The new aid seekers do not know how to cope with the new and difficult economic reality and turn to us as a last resort.
Fortunately, at Yad Ezer L’Haver we do not suffer from a severe shortage of volunteers and auxiliary force, as we were forced to distribute many food packages to homes in order to prevent gatherings and meet the guidelines and restrictions of the Ministry of Health. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the Yad Ezer L’Haver organization has in fact already broken all records this year. Preparations for the holiday season this year have raised the extent of family aid requests considerably and it's hard to believe the numbers. The organization works throughout the year for the benefit of the needy and incapacitated and assists the Holocaust survivors, in many assorted ways. Our organization will do everything in its power to help and assist the needy, the poor and the community.
Our mission for over 3 decades at the " Yad Ezer L’Haver " organization and my life enterprise is to ensure that we do everything to locate every hungry person in Haifa and present him with even one moment of happiness in the holiday season. We will do everything tin our power and as best we can on Rosh Hashanah. The corona has taught us an important lesson in mutual guarantee."
Mr. Sabag added: "Unfortunately, the social and economic gaps in Israel are only widening, the discourse on poverty and social gaps for Holocaust survivors and the needy does not leave the public agenda and that is good. But talking about the issue is not enough, there is much to do. As we look at the situation today, we are going to see more and more new destitute people who had a livelihood before the corona crisis. Now, suddenly every day hundreds of new people turn to us at the organization call center, those who have never asked for help at all and those who are ashamed to ask. "Unfortunately, for the last half a year the corona pandemic in Israel has made more and more Israelis poorer and we at Yad Ezer L’Haver will be here, and will reach out, help and support everyone who turns to us for help.
If you also want join us, help and donate to the " Yad Ezer L’Haver " organization and be a partner in a great, important and sacred mitzvah, this is the time and this is the moment, this is the order of the day! You can donate and call the call center at *8602 and donate here !
Photos: Oksana Shlomov, Joe Luciano, Adir Yeziref.
