Shannah Tovah!

One year ago, Jacob's Hope had their first event in Israel, a food distribution for Rosh HaShannah in Karmiel, where we gave away bags of food to feed over 60 families in need. This year in Karmiel, we gave away bags of food to over 200 families in need for Rosh HaShannah, in Ashdod we gave food to another 50 families in need and in Tel Aviv another 30 families in need.

In addition to giving away bags of food, we have been able to work with the Joseph Project in Israel to give away clothing and household goods to these needy families in Ashdod and Tel Aviv.

On September 2, 2010, Jacob's Hope along with Convoy of Hope, delivered our first first 40 foot container of humanitarian aid to Israel. Items such as clothing, shoes, diapers and medical supplies to help hundreds of needy people in the land.

In Addition to the three centers we already have open, we are committed to opening at least three more centers in the next year. We are currently looking at places in Jerusalem, Ma'alot, Eilat and Ashkelon.

The Thunder Rolls...

The Jacob's Hope team is in Israel, and we're making noise. Saturday August 28 we had a food distribution in Karmiel, along with Rivers of Living Water, where we were able to give bags of food to over 200 needy Russian Israeli families. While we were there the team was able to make new contacts in Israel and Ukraine, and plan new projects with the leadership from Rivers of Living Water, to help even more needy Jewish people.

On Tuesday we were able to join some of our Associates on a trip to Sderot and Ashkelon. It was heartbreaking to see the 500 used missile casings that landed in Sderot in the last year, knowing that this has been a quiet year. In years past, over 100 missiles have been shot at this small town, within one kilometer of Gaza, in a single day.

We visited the Sderot Indoor Rec Center, located in a large bomb shelter, that was built by the Jewish National Fund. Again, it was heartbreaking to see children having to play in a bomb shelter because the playgrounds outside are unsafe. I cannot imagine having to raise my own children in those conditions.

In Ashkelon we visited the Barzilai Medical Center. Since new, longer-range missiles are now being smuggled into Gaza, this Hospital is vulnerable to attack. During times of heavy rocket fire, most of the Hospital has to be evacuated. However, due to funds raised by John Hagee Ministries and The Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, a new Cardiac Department was built and a new sheltered emergency room is being built at this facility.

Although Jacob's Hope has not been involved with raising funds for these particular projects, we think it's important for our supports to know about some of the great work other organizations are doing in Israel and that we are always looking to partner with other organizations doing humanitarian work in the Land.

More about the rest of our work this week and future projects coming soon, in our next post...