Mercaz Hachessed Dvei Ilai

Mercaz HaChessed Debay Illai is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing back self-respect to poor families. We offer a holistic approach to meeting the most basic needs of families from a low socio-economic background in the Jerusalem area and south of Israel. The Need Debay Illai was started after teachers and principals began to notice that children were coming to school without having eaten a morning meal and without a packed lunch. These same children often were wearing school uniform that was too small, had worn out shoes and no coat in the winter. Parents send their children to school to learn and develop, but children cannot learn if they are hungry and uncomfortable. They cannot concentrate or develop new skills if they are embarrassed. This lack of self-esteem and frustration with the inability to change their circumstances can lead to academic and behavior problems that stem from the strain of coming from a poor home. Our Answer Each child is an individual project. Each child needs to have his or her basic needs met - food, clothing and emotional support. Each family is an individual project. Each family needs to feel self-respect, the ability to present themselves in public without embarrassment so that they can push themselves out of the cycle of poverty. If the children are taken care of and happy, the parents begin to feel happy and families can begin to rediscover their self-respect. Our Activities Inspired by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Lifschitz, who was known by his 18th century peers as Debay Illai, Close to Heaven, our organization aims to meet the three most basic needs of families from a low socioeconomic background - food, clothing, and emotional support. We provide food baskets, hot meals and supermarket vouchers to ensure that people are not hungry. We concentrate our main efforts on clothing, since many organizations do not meet this basic need. Additionally, Debay Illai has a team of mentors who work with children from poor families to provide academic and emotional support and guidance. Projects in Focus 1. Hot Meals - Each day, Debay Illai hands out 600 hot meals to hungry people who collect the meals from our distribution centers in Betar Illit and Beer Sheva. We plan to increase this amount to 800 daily meals. For the price of just $4.50 a meal, you can help us to feed many more hungry people. 2. Clothing - Even if you have food on the table, provided by our organization or another similar nonprofit, if you are wearing an old tattered dress and your children are in shoes that are two sizes too small, your chicken will not taste good. The taste of shame engulfs every festive meal. As soon as parents of a family can present themselves in public with neat, well-fitting clothing; as soon as children can arrive at school feeling like they look the same as their peers; they are ready to flourish, to go into work or school with their head held high, ready to accomplish great things. We distribute seasonal clothing and shoes in 4 cities (Beer Sheva, Betar Illit, Ashdod, Kiryat Sefer) between two and four times a year. We receive donations in kind from importers, manufacturers and even designers, and purchase the rest. Each distribution costs $38,000. 3. Supermarket Vouchers - Twice a year, before the Jewish festivals of Rosh Hashana (New Year) and Passover, we distribute supermarket vouchers for the Rami Levy chain to 600 families in Jerusalem, Betar and Bet Shemesh, enabling these families to buy necessities for the upcoming festivals. 4. Volunteer Transportation Services - Debay Illai offers a free transportation service in and around Jerusalem and Betar Illit to people who are elderly, ill or otherwise infirm. Using their own cars, our volunteers take these people to appointments or errands such as doctors, hospitals, banking and the post office. Debay Illai plans to purchase wheelchair accessible vehicle so that we can offer this important service to people who are unable to travel in a normal car. There is a huge demand for this. We are happy to dedicate this vehicle in honor of the donor. 5. Emotional Guidance Mentors - Children who are struggling in social or academic situations often need a person to lean on. Sometimes they need specific help, other times they need a listening ear, someone to have fun with or the time to work on a creative project. Each of our mentors receives a small stipend of $180/child/month and works with up to 4 children. Many of these children are orphans or come from families where one parent is unable to support them properly. With the help of our mentors, we watch these children flourish, grow and develop. We currently have 50 mentors working with 200 children in Jerusalem and Beitar. We have had many requests and would like to add mentors to reach an additional 50 children. The mentors receive training and support from professionals in education and guidance counsellors. They have a panel of professionals to whom they can turn for support or to help solve specific issues so that each child receives individual care. Funding Request At Debay Illai we help families who feel like they have nothing to feel like they have everything. With your tax-deductible donation of $3600 we can ensure that families and particularly children have their three most basic needs met - food, clothing, and emotional support. Help us to give families hope that a brighter future is available.