YAD ELIEZER ANNUAL REPORT 2014 TOGetHER... WE CAN WE DID WE WILL Contents Yad Eliezer Mission Statement 2014 YadEliezer.org Expands 5 36 Chairman’s Note Leave a Legacy: Make the World a Better Place 38 6 What Yad Eliezer Means to Me Facts and Figures 2014 40 8 Building the Future: Building Milestones of 2014 Around Israel with Yad Eliezer 13 41 IDF Operation Protective Edge Financial Report 2014 22 42 The Two Israels: Poverty Report 2014 Around the World with Yad Eliezer Produced July 2015 26 43 for Yad Eliezer, Jerusalem, Israel Written and Edited by The Many Hands of Yad Eliezer Letters of Endorsement Yaelle Ehrenpreis Meyer 30 44 Graphic Design by Ben Gasner Studio Director’s Letter Pictures by 46 Yossi Kaufman TOGetHER We We We Can Did Will YAD ELIEZER MIssION STAtement 2014 ad Eliezer was founded on the prem- vide critical short-term relief while simulta- ise that every Jew in Israel is entitled neously confronting the underlying causes to a life of dignity, self-reliance and of indigence, forging broad-based solutions Y self-respect. Established in 1980 with the that empower long-term financial and psy- single objective of delivering monthly food chological stability. Each component of Yad baskets to hungry families, Yad Eliezer has Eliezer’s comprehensive welfare system grown to encompass over fifteen economic − which includes nationwide distribution 5 and social service programs that impact the of essential food, clothing, and household www.yadeliezer.org lives of over 20,000 families each year. items, job training and child mentoring pro- Our mandate is to give the internation- grams − contributes towards the fulfillment al Jewish community the opportunity to of its mandate to engender economic recov- reach out to their fellow Jews in Israel, ery and social development in Israel. to serve as the conduit for the global While our roster of programs has Yad Eliezer family – our staff, volunteers expanded and our budget exceeded $35 and contributors around the world – million this year, our cadre of dedicated Yad to support those in Israel who need Eliezer supporters enables the organization their help most. to honor its commitment to limited overhead The entire Yad Eliezer team and minimal expenses while providing works together to combat poverty personalized and professional assistance on the individual, family, communal, to hundreds of thousands of our nation’s and national levels. We aim to pro- neediest. TOGetHER We We We Can Did Will CHAIRMAN’S Note 2014 swering those needs, every day, through- Future. This year we celebrated the culmi- Dear Friends of out the country. nation of not one – but two – major building Yad Eliezer, In some ways, our Annual Report – and projects that will enable us to impact and the reality it reflects – remains all-too- improve the lives of Israelis nationwide: Welcome to the second decade of the Yad comparable to the facts on the ground in Construction of our magnificent new Eliezer Annual Report! 2004. Between then and now Israel has Wedding Complex in Bnei Brak, and reno- Back in the early 2000s, we here at Yad 6 indeed joined the OECD, the council of vation of the famous Yad Eliezer Jerusalem Eliezer had already been providing sup- the world's most developed nations. But Warehouse. Read all about these great mile- port to Israel's needy families for over 20 while Start-Up Israel continues to lead stones inside – and of course, make plans to years. The time had come, all of us felt, to global development in technology, science pack food boxes on your next visit to Israel! ifference create a new framework for communica- D and medicine, the chasm between the The year 2014 was also one in which tion – a dynamic and exciting way to share country's fortunate and less-so has only the global Jewish family united together in the challenges and achievements of Yad grown. “One-in-three” remains an accu- support – and too often, in tears – during Eliezer with our friends worldwide. So we rate catchphrase to capture a landscape Operation Protective Edge. Yad Eliezer's You Make the Make You created the Yad Eliezer Annual Report, in which one-third of the nation's children $1 million campaign brought some relief to a publication as filled with people, pain, grow up beneath the poverty line. all those under fire, IDF soldiers and civil- faith and hope as the tens of thousands But the last decade has also seen Yad ians in the South alike. of families who were benefitting from our Eliezer grow and develop, remaining true to There's more. In fact, Yad Eliezer now services. We introduced you to the real our essence while expanding both the num- touches the lives of over 100,000 individu- people behind the “Yad Eliezer” banner: bers of those we help and the ways in which als throughout Israel. All of them – fami- the people in need and the people an- we continue working tirelessly to Build the lies seeking basic food items, newborns TOGetHER We We We Can Did Will The last decade has Annual Report 2008 seen Yad Eliezer Ya d Eliezer grow and develop, remaining true to our essence while expanding thirsting for nourishment, seniors craving companionship, brides wishing for a cel- Thank you for the chance to help -Israel’s a volunteer children! YAD ELIEZER ANNUAL REPORT 2011 ebration, youth yearning for role models, parents aiming to create a better future for An Opportunity to Give and to Receive to and Give to Opportunity An 7 their children – know that the doors of Yad Thank you for the chance to help -Israel’s a volunteer children! Eliezer are always open. Throughout the www.yadeliezer.org years, our programs have been constantly always maintained open lines of commu- ures: they are there – and will continue to be tweaked to provide professional solutions nication, but in recent years we have har- there – to tell you a story: the story of who to new problems, while never losing site nessed the powers of cyberspace to give and what we are, of who and what we, with of our compassion for those in need. We you, new ways to stay informed and easier your consistent support, do to improve lives, have long relied on our extended “family,” ways to contribute to our programs. build families and generate real progress in but now we have forged an international Throughout, the Yad Eliezer Annual Re- Israeli society. network of volunteers – from hostesses of port has kept you “in the loop” of all that It’s a story we’ve been sharing with you Feed-a-Baby fundraisers in New Jersey to takes place in the world of Yad Eliezer. And since 2004. Now, read on for all we wish to teenagers donating their Bar Mitzvah mon- over the next ten years, while much in the tell you about the year that was: Yad Eliezer ey in London. Transparency and financial world, and much here at Yad Eliezer, will no Annual Report 2014. propriety have always been our watchwords, doubt continue to change, the Annual Re- Thank you, but today we have a renowned accountant port will continue to link all of us together. Sori Tropper firm serving as permanent auditor. We have The text, the pictures, the quotes, the fig- American Friends of Yad Eliezer TOGetHER We We We Can Did Will WHAT YAD ELIEZER MEAns TO me Meet Our Panelists: Some of the dedicated staff, donors and volunteers of Yad Eliezer: Yossi Kaufman Sara Zekbach Chaya Laya Bernstein Itzik Stern Director of Wedding Solomon Adopt-A- Manager of the Public Relations Coordinator Volunteer Wedding new wedding hall Jerusalem Jerusalem Coordinator Coordinator complex Toronto, CA Staten Island, Bnei Brak NY 8 Yossi represents the face of Sara welcomes the young This generous North American From the other side of the From his early days driving Yad Eliezer to the hundreds of couples who come to Jewish community loves to ocean, Laya enables weddings one of our trucks and then groups who come to volunteer book their weddings in our give – and Chaya is there to happen in Israel, as she managing our Jerusalem at our Jerusalem warehouse. subsidized halls. She listens as to encourage her fellow makes “shidduchim” between warehouse and up to his recent He also travels abroad they open up to her about the Torontonians to volunteer their engaged couples in North appointment as manager of our ifference throughout the year to raise difficulties they face, so she can time, energy and support on America and Israeli couples new wedding venue, Itzik has D funds and update supporters advise us as to which families behalf of Yad Eliezer. yearning to have their dreams been involved with every aspect across the globe on our need help most. come true. of Yad Eliezer. activities. Rabbi Asher David Kahn Eta Chaya Miriam Shalvi Zaritzky A great friend Eisenberger Taroug Waldman You Make the Make You Tzedaka of Yad Eliezer Yad Eliezer Yad Eliezer Social Media/ Coordinator Efrat Volunteer Volunteer Website Ofakim Brooklyn, NY Dallas, TX Professional Tzefat Ofakim is a city in south- David is a generous supporter Eta devotes herself to Down south in the Great State To quote Shalvi herself: “At western Israel with one of the of many years who not only organizing the Yad Eliezer of Texas, Chaya Miriam works Yad Eliezer there are donors, lowest income levels in the gives financial assistance but Chanukah/Shavuot Sales, with tirelessly to organize events, recipients, staff and volunteers. country. We often partner also actively engages the proceeds earmarked to the coordinate fundraisers and Which category do I fit into? All with Rabbi Zaritsky to help the involvement of many others in babies in Israel fed through encourage support for Yad of them.