Give a School Backpack to a Child in the Holy Land

As the school year begins in Israel, as it is for schoolchildren around the world, so many youngsters live in poverty and do not have the necessities that will help them grow and learn. The Jerusalem Post's Carmit Sapir Weitz writes about a Fellowship-supported program that provides these, the Holy Land's neediest children, with backpacks so that they can start the year prepared to succeed:

This type of charity is well known to Rabbi Yaakov Globerman, the head of the Yad B’Yad (Hand in Hand) charity, which was established 16 years ago with basketball star Pini Gershon to help thousands of needy families.

Yad B’Yad caters to the needs of the most desperate citizens of Israel – Holocaust survivors, single parents, lonely elderly, and new immigrants. Without Yad B’Yad’s humnanitarian aid, supported by funds from IFCJ’s generous partners, these recipients would be without help and hope. Based in Lod, a city that has been ravaged by crime and drugs in recent years, Yad B’Yad provides needy people throughout Israel with food, furniture, clothing, shoes, beds, blankets, and winter coats.

One of Globerman’s projects is “A Backpack for Everyone,” which is supported by IFCJ.

“IFCJ really helps out,” he says. “This year we are giving out new backpacks which include a pencil case, pens, pencils, notebooks and paper.”

One year, a principal in southern Israel contacted Globerman on the first day of school after noticing that a pair of brothers didn’t come to school on the first day of classes. After visiting them in their home and speaking with their mother, he understood that the children weren’t interested in coming to school because they had old and tattered backpacks. Their mother wasn’t able to buy them new bags, but the next day, Globerman arranged for them to receive new knapsacks.

Rabbi Eckstein has said he sees education as key to the social development of a country.

You can provide a backpack to a needy child! Give a backpack today that will help prepare a child for the school year.

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