Feed the Hungry

Food basket distribution

The "Feed the Hungry" program is a food delivery operation that runs primarily in the towns of Ashdod, Yavne and Kiryat-Malachi.

Our team of 30 volunteers delivers close to 700 "Shabbat Baskets" every Thursday evening. Our Shabbat Baskets includes frozen chicken, rice, oil, flour, vegetables and fruits as well as two Challas and a small bottle of wine for the traditional Sabbath Kiddush blessing.

The food baskets are delivered mostly to elderly and lonely people who have no family or friends in Israel. These are mainly people in their 70's or 80's who lost everything in the Holocaust or immigrants who have come to Israel in the past 5-10 years. Now, as the impact of the global economic crisis hits Israel, drastically raising the percentage of Israeli families living below the poverty line, we also support several younger families who are experiencing great economic distress or extended periods of unemployment.

Our volunteers’ visits inject a ray of light into these people’s otherwise difficult lives and are their only assurance of having a home cooked Shabbat meal. Some open their doors and insist that our volunteers come in and stay for a bit while others are too ashamed to open their doors and reach for our boxes only once our volunteers have left.

Recently, Israel La'ad has received hundreds of new requests for assistance every month but without raising additional funds, we cannot afford to add these families to our weekly deliveries. We currently have a list of approximately 1,000 such unanswered requests. We need your help.

Your generous gift can help us add the addresses of other needy families to our weekly delivery route. The annual cost of a Shabbat Basket and its delivery is $1,800 (approximately $150 per month).