Food banks, or soup kitchens as they were once called, are no strangers in Israel, or elsewhere around the world. The poor, we are told, are always with us, but if you are lucky you have a food bank to help you out. Even in prosperous Israel, it turns out, a growing part of the population is without the means to sustain itself with basic foods. Their cupboards are bare.
This parlous situation was intensified by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. People found themselves out of work, confined to their houses, often with young children to look after. Their fridges were empty.
Enter Madelaine Black, who made aliyah from the UK in 2007 and has a professional background in fundraising, mainly for nonprofit organizations. She calls it “creativity that matters.”
Spending the coronavirus summer with her family in Caesarea, she was drawn to the nearby town of Or Akiva, through the Meir Panim charitable organization, which was organizing a food bank for locals.
“I was witness to some 500 shoppers coming each Tuesday, to collect basic food stuffs for the week. There was an orderly line of people with shopping baskets or trolleys. This number increased to over 1,500 during the COVID-19 epidemic. It was obviously a social event as well as an urgent necessity. What was wonderful about this process was that the organizers, Meir Panim, had worked out a system so that no one felt embarrassed or inferior. The key was the love with which the food was being given.
“Prior to Corona, the Meir Panim’s Or Akiva food bank and free restaurant was providing 1,000 meals per day. Then Corona struck, and this number climbed to 5,000, although now it is down to 2,500. During this time I witnessed something more amazing. Since no left-over food was being donated because hotels, restaurants and work canteens were closed up, and no one was allowed out of their homes to takeout or eat in at the free restaurant, the food had to be cooked from scratch and delivered. Meir Panim organized a team of unemployed chefs to prepare delicious meals, which were then delivered by an army of volunteers, most of whom had similarly been laid off. The numbers they served had now swollen to 5,000, and included many who had been made vulnerable by this destructive virus.”
Inspired by what she had seen, and quick to spot a fundraising and PR opportunity, Madelaine volunteered, too, to help by using her professional experience. “I wondered what I could do to help an obviously exacerbated situation,” she says.
She noticed, for example, that in addition to the experienced volunteers, there were young women with children who were coming to help. But these women were obviously taking some of these basic foodstuffs for themselves. Were they embarrassed to register themselves as receivers? She then espied a lonely carrot and onion left behind in one of the large crates which carried the vegetables and fruits for these deprived people. An idea came to her, and thus was born a unique and colorful book that would be both for children and a powerful fundraising tool.
“I love to tell my children and grandchildren stories and sing to them silly songs,” she admits. “This book was going to be a way of telling people not to be embarrassed. Taking produce this way was natural. Indeed, there was a long tradition behind it. This produce was what the Jewish tradition calls tithes – one-tenth of a farmer’s fruit and vegetables which would have otherwise been thrown away. The farmers had no need of it and indeed welcomed the opportunity of giving them for this worthy purpose. It was a win-win situation.”
She found an illustrator, Shirley Waisman, who was already a well-known illustrator of 50 children’s books. Together they wrote and produced Meir Carrot and The Happy Shopper: A Food Bank Tale.
The story line focuses on a single-parent family, a mother, and Danny, her son. Danny is more excited about going to the local food bank than his mother, who is wary of having to stand on line, and argues with her son that they have enough on which to get by. But hunger has a way of making the food bank more appealing. So they go “as volunteers” and they’ll ask if it’s okay to take some food home. When they arrive at the food bank, Danny hears a singing pepper as well as a carrot and onion who persuade him to tell his mother to take them home and provide them with a tasty meal.
Ilanit, the food bank’s manager, realizes the real situation of this volunteer family, and sensitively makes sure that they are given food to take home. The talking carrot (this is a children’s story after all!) then explains that:
“In our wonderful country – rich with milk and honey –no one should go hungry because they’ve no money.” Moreover, “our food bank will give you the food that you need.”
At the end of the book details are given about the whereabouts of food banks and how they are organized. The charming book even has an engaging website from which the book can be ordered, with proceeds going to Meir Panim’s food banks (https://www.meircarrot.com/).
Madelaine’s enthusiasm is not just for the concept that is the engine that drives the food bank in Or Akiva.
“I was inspired by Ilanit, who is the director of the center,” she says. “She comes from Morocco, like a good number of the local residents. The others come from Russia or Tashkent. Yet they are all generally integrated into the community. Ilanit reports that as a child she often went hungry. She was determined that no local child would go through the same experience. So when she gives this food she gives it with love and meaning. That’s what makes her special.”
Aware that there are many NGOs in Israel who are doing similar work, Black’s focus on this one food bank suggests that for her it is a metaphor for what is possible, to the benefit not only of those who receive their food parcels, but also for the community as a whole. Her book stands for something beyond words. It is a book written and illustrated for children but it is one than can be read with pleasure and understanding by adults.
As though to underline the universality of the book’s message, Madelaine Black has been offered a publishing contract in the UK, her former home, to adapt the book for the English market.
The book is available on Amazon in the UK and the US, and online in Israel for 50 shekels. Proceeds go to fund Meir Panim’s food bank.