YAD EZRA V'SHULAMIT

Our goal is to make sure everyone in need of food has food and to ease the immediate suffering of impoverished families in Israel. We aim to break poverty at its most fundamental stage, and give children from needy families a chance for a better future.

Yad Ezra VShulamit addresses hunger and poverty by distributing 12,000 weekly food baskets and food vouchers to needy families throughout 91 distribution points in Israel. The goal of the Food Basket project is to help impoverished Israelis feed themselves and their families and ultimately reduce food insecurity in Israel by providing needy families in Israel with proper, nutritious food each week. Additionally, Yad Ezra VShulamit distributes over 55,000 food baskets every Rosh Hashanah and Passover to ensure that impoverished families can celebrate the holidays in dignity. By providing financially challenged families with food baskets, Yad Ezra VShulamit especially ensures that children from these families have the nutritional security they need to grow and become successful productive citizens.

Yad Ezra V'Shulamit Provides:
-Monthly food vouchers to hundreds of widows and orphans.
-Children's Centers for impoverished children
-New winter coats, heaters, blankets, boots, and sweaters to children
-Offers monthly food baskets and snacks to lone soldiers in the IDF and holiday food vouchers
-After-school programming for Ethiopian children and youth
-Offers low-cost weddings to orphans and others in need
-Emergency distributions in times of war
This multifaceted approach aims to address various aspects of poverty while feeding hungry children and families in Israel.



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We are a nationwide organization working to secure enough food to distribute throughout Israel. We work closely with other non-profits, businesses and farmers to gain access to food. Forty percent of our donations come from in-kind donations of food. We deliver over 12,000 food baskets a week to alleviate poverty throughout all of Israel. In addition, during the holidays the influx of requests grows tenfold to over 50,000 requests for food baskets. In times of crisis our trucks need to be packed and ready to distribute food and emergency supplies.
The food is distributed through 4 warehouses strategically located for easy highway access and we have 47 distribution points throughout Israel.

Yad Ezra VShulamit has after-school childrens centers, where we feed 500 children every day, have a staff to help them with their homework, arrange therapies, provide school supplies and winter supplies - all in a caring, warm environment. We have Children Centers in Jerusalem and Tzfat The Children's Centers operate five days a week, 11 months a year. In the summer the centers operate summer camp programs that offer a meal, arts and crafts, outings, and most importantly, summer fun. The centers are staffed throughout the year by both professionals and volunteers who get to know and support each child and are able to offer help or refer families for additional assistance where necessary. School Supplies and winter clothing is provided to students attending the Centers to ensure that the childrens' full educational, emotional, and physical well-being are met. This holistic approach and support network provided through the Children's Centers is underpinned by providing children with only new clothing and supplies, ensuring the children can feel dignified in front of their peers. This is a key strategy in Yad Ezra VShulamit's fight against poverty in Israel, which aims to build dignity and self-worth in children, allowing them to have the emotional confidence to persevere for life.

Yad Ezra V'Shulamit has the infrastructure, 4 warehouses as well as 14 trucks, to get food easily to the needy all over Israel and to respond quickly to the urgent needs of war-affected families in times of war. Yad Ezra VShulamit is the largest distributor of food baskets in Israel. We distribute 12,000 food baskets weekly and thousands of food vouchers to the needy, throughout 91 distribution points in Israel. Our warehouses are in Jerusalem, Bat Yam and Elifelet and Tzfat. We utilize the food distribution centers to house our Feed a Baby products which are distributed through these distribution points. Our Children's Centers are located in Jerusalem and Tsfat and staffed with warm and caring teachers and trained counselors.

In 2022, thanks to Yad Ezra V'Shulamit, 781,506 nutritious food baskets and vouchers were distributed throughout Israel to ensure that no one send their child to bed hungry. We also distributed 175,560 hot lunches to impoverished children and 145,000 hot meals to needy families. In 2022, we helped 51,000 needy families, 9,790 widows, 8,000 single parents and 290 newly-wed couples. To ensure needy families would not suffer from the cold winter weather, we distributed 4,000 winter coats, 3,500 backpacks and school supplies, 3,000 blankets and 1,000 heaters.

We also opened a brand new state-of-the art Children Center in Tsfat in 2022 which welcomes 120 impoverished children. The building also has a beautiful wedding wall which we use to cater weddings for orphans or impoverished brides and grooms.

Yad Ezra VShulamit has also been on the frontlines to help war-affected families and soldiers since October 7, 2023. We have sent over 45 trucks filled with food to thousands of people in bomb shelters and in cities that have not been evacuated (Netivot, Ofakim, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beer Sheva, Kiryat Malachi etc.), aiding all those without the ability to access food. Our dedicated staff goes to each city, braving the missiles, to give food to everyone. At the army's request, we have sent 20 trucks full of food and water, and also some tactical gear to soldiers on the frontlines. We provided thousands of displaced residents vouchers, toys, activities for children and emotional support in over 47 hotels in the Jerusalem, central Israel and Tiberias areas.

In order to continue growing we have increased our procurement staff to bring in more in-kind donations. We are also working to focus our telemarketers and fundraisers to bring in additional funds so that we are able to reach more people each year. Our ultimate plan is to continue increasing our efforts until poverty and hunger no longer exist.