Click here to learn more about MAKOM's work at the Ukrainian boarder
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More on MAKOM's Work in Israel
Over 120,000 packages of food were delivered to the needy, elderly and isolated by JNF-USA affiliate organization MAKOM between 2020 and 2021. MAKOM’s modern day pioneers are striving to meet the increasing number of food insecure individuals and communities, especially the elderly and needy living in the peripheries of Israel and isolated by the impact of the pandemic. Acting on the Jewish social justice concepts of tzedakah (charitable giving) and tikkun olam, (to fix or repair the world), MAKOM communities and their leaders combined resources and redirected their funds toward developing food banks and other important social welfare programs.
Israel has no national program to provide for those who suffer from food insecurity and hunger but the Jewish concept of abundance says that if people share what is available, the abundance will increase. And so it did!! Thanks to MAKOM’s heroic work and JNF-USA donations, this food relief effort continues to ease the worsening plight of the elderly with packages that include the basics: pasta, coffee, powdered chocolate milk, sugar, flour, cereal, vegetables and chicken.
In Arad on the southern periphery of Israel, the number of B’nai Akiva families providing food relief grew from 2 to 50 families, ensuring no Arad elderly would go hungry no matter their ethnic / cultural backgrounds or religious beliefs. B’nai Akiva townspeople first began checking on the shut-in elderly and shopping for them. Then they began bringing cooked meals. Eventually, B’nai Akiva families joined together to form a central food bank to meet the growing need in the wider community.
Up north, the town of Akko needed help providing for their elderly and turned to JNF-USA. Rather than fund them as a single entity, JNF-USA directed them to work with the existing MAKOM communities in Akko. In 2020, in one week alone, 1,350 extra-large Passover food packages were delivered to the elderly and needy families in Akko with the help of MAKOM and Jewish National Fund-USA. Two MAKOM communities in Akko came together - the secular Educators and the Modern Orthodox – to provide 145 volunteers for this important mission! The MAKOM food relief efforts in Akko have been so successful that other communities now look to them as a model.
In addition to addressing food insecurity, MAKOM has set up senior citizen centers in 32 cities. Demand for these centers is increasing because they are seen as a way to reduce social isolation and provide activities that can reduce cognitive decline. The cost to run these MAKOM programs is low, however adding senior centers to more cities will require additional funding.
ABOUT MAKOM
MAKOM is a council of 15 volunteer organizations powered by modern day pioneers focused on empowering grassroot community initiatives for towns and villages in the Negev and Galilee through a variety of community-specific programs such as job development, the arts, cultural interests, education, community and youth development and social welfare. MAKOM is now recognized as Israel’s largest national organization (which includes more than 200 communities), that brings together individuals and groups from underserved sectors of society and impacts the lives of over 600,000 individuals by serving the diversity of Israeli society; young educators, Ethiopians, artists, Mountain Jews, Druze, Haredi and other religious and secular pluralistic communities. These local grassroots "start-ups" are enhancing Israeli society through a myriad of initiatives that go beyond addressing food insecurity issues and take Zionism and co-existence to the next level.
Through MAKOM’s Hebrew education programs, immigrants and the Druze can learn the local language and integrate more quickly into Israeli society. MAKOM’s After School programs give children and youth from disadvantaged homes and neighborhoods hot meals, provide mentoring, tutoring and positive enrichment. Other MAKOM initiatives help new immigrants learn skills that help them find jobs and acclimate. MAKOM Family Centers provide workshops on marriage and parenting and serve as information centers for families needing assistance after moving to a new city. At-risk youth can also get needed support and programming.
These and other MAKOM community programs come about as leaders identify needs within their own communities and work with MAKOM to make it happen. As a result, struggling communities are now stronger than ever. Together, MAKOM community leaders and JNF-USA work tirelessly toward building the dream of a strong democratic society focused on equality, multiculturalism, and social justice. For these reasons, JNF-USA has chosen to partner with MAKOM as a partner on the ground in its mission toward developing its Blueprint Negev and Go North initiatives.
Written by Penny Bustin, Chair WFI DC region and Roni Wolk, Assistant VP National WFI Executive Board