Since 2000, Sderot, a development town in the northern most part of the Negev, has been bombarded by over 600 Kassam rockets, killing

four residents, wrecking havoc on the economy, and leaving in its wake the anguish of poverty.

The situation in Sderot mirrors the financial crisis facing the Israeli economy as a whole. In recent years, hunger has become a pressing problem.

In August 2001, a friend of Yad Ezra Ariel Luri begged him to come to Sderot to see for himself the effects of the “new intifada.”

Luri was shocked. This small development town was slowly surrendering to despair. He was especially touched by the plight of the children. The Palestinians had planted terror in their hearts.

“Every time one of the kids leave the house,” said one mother. “I am a nervous wreck. There’s a constant feeling of uncertainty. Where can we run in 20 seconds - that’s how much time we have from the warning siren until the bomb explodes. If I had the means, I would leave. But my apartment is worthless.”

After several meetings with social workers, who told Luri about children who were failing school due to hunger. Luri decided to open a branch of Yad Ezra VeShulamit in Sderot. Within a week, a soup kitchen was established and sandwiches were distributed to school children.

“When I met the people of Yad Ezra VeShulamit, I realized that they were people with a heart; good, warm people,” Ketty said. “When they told me about their plans for a soup kitchen, I offered my services.”

Everyday, Yad Ezra VeShulamit sends a driver with boxes of hot, nutritious food to Ketty’s house.

“They deliver over 50 portions. If the weather permits, I set up tables in my backyard, and if not, people eat in my living room. But the majority takes the food home, so I just package it for them."

Ketty is a volunteer, as are most of the people working for Yad Ezra VeShulamit. Five days a week, she spends several hours a day serving and packaging the meals, and then cleaning up afterwards.

“I do this because I love it. I knew families that didn’t have food and were embarrassed to leave their homes," she said. "I wanted to do something to help them, to make them realize that they are not forgotten.”

“I moved here because my husband’s family lives here,” she said. Sara’s husband is a school maintenance worker.

“He leaves the house at 7:30 each morning and returns home around 5 p.m.. He brings home NIS 3000 monthly, the equivalent of USD 800. But I am grateful that he has a job. He’s one of the lucky ones.

“Before the missiles, there were great jobs available, but since then, everything’s come to a standstill. Money is very tight; very, very tight. It’s really hard. You can’t possibly imagine.”

Sara and her husband, Shlomo have five children between the ages of 3-14. Sara is seeking employment.

“Every week I go to the employment office to see if there are any openings. But they always turn me away empty-handed,” she said.

Sara collects NIS 300 (USD 66) unemployment benefits a month. In addition, National Insurance pays them a monthly child’s allowance of NIS 700 (USD 154). Before budgetary cuts, the child allowance was NIS 1,400.

The Bitons income is less than USD 930 per month.

With rent of USD 50 per month, school tuition, another USD 330, health insurance USD 40, the family is left with just USD 510 to cover everything else: water, gas, electricity, transportation, telephone, medicines, and, of course, food.

"There’s never enough,” Biton said.

The Bitons take their main meal home from the Yad Ezra VeShulamit soup kitchen.

“The children love it. There’s always either meat or chicken, a hot soup and either rice or macaroni. I could never afford such expensive food,” she said.

Until a few months ago, Yad Ezra VeShulamit was providing the Bitons with weekly food package of fruits, vegetables, chicken and fish for Shabbat.

“But now we only get once a month. There are much needier families. We’re one of the lucky ones. At least my husband has a job,” she said.

Shlomo also volunteers in the local cemetery.

“We don’t have money to give to charity,” Sara said. “But we are not ‘takers.’ My husband is a very proud person, and although we have no choice but to accept Yad Ezra VeShulamit’s assistance, we try to find ways to benefit the community.”

Yad Ezra VeShulamit

• Founded in 1998.

• Ariel Luri, an educator, started delivering weekly food packages to several of his impoverished neighbors. Word soon spread and within a few weeks he was sending boxes of food to 50 families every Thursday.

• Distributes close to 200 tons of food monthly.

• 2,500 families receive weekly food baskets; several hundred people eat their main meal in one of five soup kitchens

• Distributes sandwiches to over 400 schoolchildren daily.

• Branches in 21 Israeli cities, and soup kitchens in Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Sderot, Eilat, Tsfas, and two locations in Jerusalem.

• Distributes new clothing before the holidays and provides financial assistance to orphans and widows.

• The standard of living of the general Israeli population dropped by 4.6 percent during the last year

• Standard of living of the lowest tenth of the population dropped 12 percent, second lowest tenth by 7percent.

• More than 18 percent of Israeli children go to bed hungry at least one night a week, and some 13 percent of Jewish children suffer from malnutrition.

• Many are forced to give their children unbalanced diets, based almost entirely on carbohydrates and starches, with insufficient protein and vitamins.

• “The long-term ramifications of this kind of under-nutrition are significant” said Dr. Nitzan Kilosky, who was in charge of the project for the Health Ministry. Source: Health Ministry

source ynetenews 09.09.05