Tuesday, September 09, 2008

JOSHUA FUND HELPS PROVIDE 7,500 BACKPACKS FOR NEEDY CHILDREN IN ISRAEL



Dear Friends from the Joshua Fund,

I want to thank you again for your generous donation to our backpack distribution project this year. Through your generous support, and with help from others, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice was able to distribute 7,500 brand-new backpacks filled with brand-new school materials, such as notebooks, pencils, pens, rulers, glue, pencil cases, etc, to children living under the poverty level throughout the whole nation of Israel.

Our distribution project took place from August 24 to August 28 under the banner of the alliance “For the Empowerment of Israel.” Among others, we distributed back-packs to new immigrant children from Ethiopia in Jerusalem, Meveseret Tzion and the Tel-Aviv Area, new immigrant children from Yemen in Rehovot, children of Southern Lebanese Army refugees in Nahariya, and children living with their mothers in shelters for battered women in various cities.

The response was literally overwhelming as many tears of thanks and appreciation were expressed by parents and community leaders, and many smiles were beaming from the faces of children. Here is a translation of one of the letters of appreciation which we received. It is from “Isha L’Isha – the Jerusalem Shelter for Battered Women,” and a copy of the original letter in Hebrew is attached hereto.

“I want to thank you in the name of the children from the shelter, their mothers, and our team, for the donation of the equipped backpacks and pencil cases in preparation for the upcoming school year....We received 15 back-packs for kindergarten students and nine back-packs for elementary school student, all of them well equipped. This makes the children very happy and gives them a feeling of renewal together with the start of the school year.”

All of the backpacks were distributed through local volunteers throughout Israel. Needless to say, this blessed cooperation is a “win, win” situation. Firstly, we are able to fulfill the greatest commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves by showing compassion to poor and needy families in our nation. Secondly, this is done through cooperation with leading Israeli social and political activists, which helps us build meaningful relationships that have real value in the pursuit of civil rights, freedom of religion, and social justice.

Please enjoy the photos....We hope that you will choose to continue supporting these important projects.

With much love and appreciation,

Calev Myers
Founder and Chief Counsel
Jerusalem Institute of Justice