IFCJ grants $4.4 million to Israeli families economically hit by pandemic shutdowns
Israelis shop for groceries at the Machane Yehuda open-air market in Jerusalem on Sept. 14, before a three-week nationwide lockdown begins on Rosh Hashanah. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90.
(JNS) — As the number of Israeli families reaching out for financial support from welfare departments and aid organizations increases dramatically, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is redoubling its efforts to help vulnerable citizens ahead of the High Holidays.
The Fellowship has allocated as much as $4.4 million (NIS 15 million), which will be used to provide food and clothing for 33,000 families, the elderly, schoolchildren and lone soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces.
The Fellowship is also helping thousands of middle-class families who have fallen into a state of poverty and distress due to coronavirus restrictions.
The campaign includes more than 12,000 food coupons, worth $150 and usable in Shufersal grocery markets, which will be distributed to single-parent homes, families living in public housing and families whose children are cared for in the Ministry of Welfare’s multipurpose dormitories.
More than 8,000 clothing coupons — worth $75 each and usable in FOX retail-clothing stores — will be provided for children living in welfare boarding schools and abused women in shelters. And nearly 5,000 grants for food and clothing worth $150 each will be given to needy soldiers and lone soldiers who have been discharged in the past six months.
Some 5,400 grants worth $200 each will be given to families who have lost their livelihoods and fallen into poverty due to the restrictions and lockdowns put into place in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Emergency grants totaling $383,000 will be transferred to dozens of eateries to assist with food packages for thousands of seniors and families.
