Thousands Of Food Shopping Cards for Rosh Hashanah

Meir Panim will distribute thousands of holiday food shopping cards, resembling credit cards to hungry and impoverished Israelis living all over Israel this upcoming Rosh Hashanah. Disadvantaged families, Holocaust survivors and elderly living below the poverty line in 35 different cities will be given food shopping cards worth 250 NIS (£36) to purchase groceries (excluding tobacco, cigarettes and alcohol) at major food chain stores in Israel for the upcoming New Year. This project will provide food for needy individuals on a new level by allowing them to feel a sense of autonomy and preserve their self-respect.

The food shopping cards are designed to help people who work but still cannot make ends meet, as well as those who are temporarily out of work and actively seeking employment.  

The latest poverty report by the Israel National Insurance Institute revealed that 1,651,300 million people in Israel live below the poverty line; among them are 783,600 innocent children! Meir Panim is on the front lines of the daily battle against poverty and hunger in Israel.  It is the largest conduit of its kind – doing more where it’s needed most!

Local welfare and absorption offices distribute the cards to needy families and individuals in specific cities. The cards also grant families facing considerable hardship a degree of dignity and equality, and help them avoid being labeled as poor. It is a form of supplemental aid which maintains the self-respect of the recipients.

"Meir Panim's food shopping card programme is the one of the most effective forms of food aid used in Israel today,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations.  “This Rosh Hashanah, Meir Panim's food shopping card programme will help many disadvantaged families experience the joy and sweetness of the New Year.  Meir Panim's services are not just charity; the work it does is about saving lives. May we be blessed to see the day soon when its services are no longer necessary." 

With the cards in hand, even poor individuals can shop at major food chain stores and purchase the foods and home goods that they need in order to support themselves and their families this Rosh Hashanah without feeling the embarrassment of collecting handouts. This method of assistance keeps true to Meir Panim’s careful attention to ensuring the preservation of respect and autonomy for the impoverished of Israel.

To promote the importance of the holiday food shopping cards, Meir Panim also recently launched a new fundraising campaign called “Donate, Eat, Love.” with Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot. Campaign partners also included Ynet, Radio Tel Aviv, Radio "Emtza Haderech," Burger Ranch, New Pharm, and Kimat Chinam supermarket chain.

The campaign began on August 22nd and will run until 9th September.  The project will continue to collect donations for holiday food shopping cards.  One of the first people to donate to the campaign via SMS was Israel’s Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon.  About the campaign, Minister Moshe Kahlon said, "The issue of food insecurity is extremely important to the State of Israel. The beauty of this specific project is the use of electronic cards, which allows needy families to go to the supermarket just like everyone else and to buy groceries without any injury to their self-respect or their privacy."

Israeli Combat Soldiers Stay On Base Because There's No Food At Home

The Poor Soldiers' War

By Goel Beno, Yediot Aharonot 30.8.10

The family suffers from shameful hunger ● The children serving in the army prefer to serve on closed bases rather than go hungry at home ● Right now, a Meir Panim campaign in underway to help the needy celebrate Rosh Hashanah

He serves as a solider in tanks; she is a soldier in the air force. The brother and sister from a family of eight from northern Israel prefer to stay on base rather than go home because of the deep distress the family suffers from.

Their poverty screams out to the heavens. The refrigerator is empty, the windows are broken, the table is rickety. The parents don't work. The father used to work for a moving company, but the company stopped paying salaries because of its debts. He quit when he saw that he was working for no pay. They owe 34,000 NIS to "Amigur" for their apartment, 9,000 NIS to the municipality, and so on and so forth.

"We don’t even have bread in the house for my children, 7 and 9 years old, that are starting school this week. They don’t even have a pencil, to say nothing of books, shoes or clothes," said the father sadly.

Their electricity gets cut off regularly. Their water has also been shut several times, which causes a serious problem for the family; their 3 year old son suffers from a severe skin disease, is required to bathe several times a day. Without water, his health deteriorates quickly.

As if this wasn't enough, 8 months ago the family lost their 1.5 year old son. Since the tragedy, the mother has been very depressed and is having difficulty recuperating from the blow.

One of their sons works occasionally as a waiter in a wedding hall. With the tips, the family buys bread. There is no money for anything else. "My son in the army tells me: 'Dad, I'm embarrassed to come home when you don’t have what to eat.' His sister in the army only comes home to wash her uniform," says the father. The mother adds: "Yesterday she came home, and went to bed hungry. The army would have let her serve close to home because of her brother's death, but she asked to serve far away. That way she doesn't have to come home every day where she won't have regular meals."

A Meir Panim campaign is underway now to collect money for food shopping cards worth 250 NIS for needy families, which they will use to buy food for the holiday. The cards will be distributed by social workers from the local welfare offices.