A month or so ago, we signed a deal (well, there were no signatures), to re-create the image and coding of Yad Eliezer's web site. I had the privilege with meeting with the family who runs the American operations and initiatives in my New York office. They described all the things they do for Israel, including and I am sure I am missing things... Thousand and thousands of food baskets for the hungry and for soldiers, weddings, big brother and sister programs, dental programs, baby formula, bar mitzvah programs and so much more. You can learn a bit about their programs over here (keep in mind, the site will change in the next few months, after we finish it).
The people who manage the American side of things really made an impression on me. It is a father, son and mother operation. The family is well off financially and they do not take a penny for the work they do for the organization. The father and son devote a huge amount of their time and money for the organization, but the mothers spends her days and nights (full time and overtime) working for the organization. She is up often at 3am (and I thought I got up early) and works late into the night.
I have seen many organizations and this organization just seemed different to me. They are by far the largest of its kind in Israel. They are most well known for their food programs, but because of their outreach in food, it extends to other programs, that have a nice natural fit.
As you can see, I am leaving out names - just in case. So the mother asked me if I would like to see how the operation works in Israel. So we coordinated a meet up at the Yad Eliezer Israel office, where I meet a bunch of people from the team. They were extremely delighted and excited to get their new web site. But besides for that, they took my wife and myself on a tour of the operations.
They first showed us a video they just released, showing how they sent 8,000 care packages to the Israeli soldiers during the Gaza war. They were able to get tons and tons of donations and tons and tons of volunteers in no time, to put together this huge operation. It was truly special and made a huge difference in the moral of these soldiers.
After the video and him showing us the dental clinic they run up north for families that cannot afford basic dental care, he took us for the tour. I believe we first visited the packaging facility, where in 2008, they packed about 8,000 packages each month for families in need of food and babies in need of baby formula. I even met a kid I know from where I live, who is donating his time while spending a year learning in Israel. Small world. It seemed like there were about 20 people there working, and I was told only one was on payroll.
Here is a picture of a portion of the packaging area, where the volunteers took 10 minutes out to watch that new video I mentioned above. I hope they post the video to YouTube, so I can share it with you all, but here is one picture:
Then he took us to the caterer, who prepares the food for the weddings they run at cost (and often cover 100%) for poor families. Weddings are a huge deal for Jewish families, huge - so they want offer a Adopt a Jewish Wedding program, so that even poor families can have a nice wedding. So we first went to the caterer who makes a total profit of several US dollars per event (not per plate). They have at least two weddings each night (two each night!) and often more. They were prepping chickens, soup, kugel, and a lot more. Everything was very clean and very impressive looking.
We then went to the two new wedding halls Yad Eliezer owns. They were extremely nice, as nice as most normal weddings in the US. They own two halls and they are constantly used, every night for a weddings. They also are able to get other halls at very reduced costs when they have more than two weddings taking place in a single night. Again, I was very shocked to see such care.
He only showed us a portion of what they do. But the small portion I saw in the couple hours I spent with them was unbelievable. What is even more unbelievable is that most of this is all done for free through their huge volunteer base. I am often skeptical about charities, that is why it is always nice to see an organization that is fully dedicated to what they do, from their hearts and not from their wallets.
Again, I feel privileged to be able to do their web site and even more privileged to have witnessed first hand, just a small portion of what they do, to better the world.
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