A group of Jews from Teaneck, New Jersey, have managed to raise $40,000 for Israeli children experiencing difficulties amid ongoing fighting between Israel and terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip. The group passed on the funds and donated items to Colel Chabad, Israel's oldest continuously operating charity.
The focus of the fundraising was to provide for more home deliveries for elderly Israelis following the shutting of 22 soup kitchens due to rocket fire from Gaza, with more attention being paid to Israelis living in the most hard-hit areas in south and central Israel. It also saw the children who are suffering through these troubling times and donated items for them as well. Colel Chabad has thus far delivered some 25,000 meals to 5,000 people in Israel over the weekend and the holiday of Shavuot on Monday.
“We called upon the community to help raise money to send toys, educational books and comfort food to bomb shelters across southern Israel,” said Rivka Szafranski, who runs the Youth Department at Congregation Bnei Yeshurun in Teaneck with her husband Yehoshua.
“We decided to team up with Colel Chabad, which already has the infrastructure and volunteer system, to package and distribute gifts to these children who are suffering during these traumatic times.”
Doron Katz, another participant in the initiative from Teaneck, said, “We’ve now raised over $38,000 and [its] growing, and have over 30 other communities involved in donating gift packages for Israeli children in the hardest hit areas.”
During the first round of aid, packages for Shavuot were given to young children who attend the Colel Chabad daycare centers in the Israeli cities of Yavne, Ashdod and Sderot, all of which have experienced constant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Beyond food, the packages also included books focusing on emotional difficulties during war.
“It warms our heart to feel your love and caring,” said Miriam Blau, educational counselor at the Maonot Chaya Childcare Centers in Israel.
“It means so much to these children during these turbulent times to know that there are sisters and brothers on the other side of the world that think of them and care for them.”
“Thousands of families are living in very tense and scary times, having to drop everything and run to the nearest shelter, sometimes multiple times a day,” said Itzik Marton of Colel Chabad. “The tremendous response from Jewish youth in the United States to this initiative really shows how ‘Kol Yisrael Ereivim Ze Ba’Zeh’ – we are all connected.”