Below is a report of JNF's actions in the crisis. You can support JNF's important work online at www.jnf.org.
Responding to the needs of the people of Israel during Operation Protective Edge, JNF has taken immediate and decisive action since July 8.
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JNF
is delivering mobile bomb shelters to border communities in dire need
of safe rooms. Many of these Negev communities are under construction,
with families living in mobile homes while their permanent homes are
being built. These mobile homes are without safe rooms, and the needs
are growing as more communities come under fire.
·
JNF's
partner Nefesh B'Nefesh is providing food to soldiers on the border and
this week brought several hundred olim to Israel on a chartered
flight. Hamas sends rockets; JNF sends people to build a nation.
·
JNF
is providing fire trucks, equipment, and supplies to Israel's
firefighters, who are the first responders to rocket attacks, and who
are battling
blazes across the country caused by rockets.
·
JNF's
Secure Indoor Recreation Center in Sderot, the size of half a football
field, is providing round-the-clock respite for families and children
from throughout the area. JNF and the Mayor of Sderot have opened the
facility to all who need it, and have made it a place to call home for a
community without other options.
·
JNF's
partners Green Horizons and Tnuat Tarbut are bringing entertainment to
families and children in the Negev who cannot leave to go north.
Green Horizons is also providing programming for Bedouin children in
Segev Shalom, and soon in Hura and Rahat.
·
JNF's partner LOTEM is taking people with special needs from the south to safer and calmer places in the north.
·
JNF's
partner Aleh Negev, a special needs village in the south that has been
hit by multiple rockets, has brought in extra professionals to assist
its residents with severe disabilities cope with the crisis and stay
safe.
·
JNF's
partner, the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites, is
granting free admission to 60 heritage sites across Israel.
Additionally, JNF's Rabbis for Israel have mobilized:
• Four synagogues have committed to purchasing bomb shelters at $30K each,
• Five rabbis have joined Rabbis for Israel since the Emergency Campaign began,
• Dozens of congregations have begun JNF fundraising pages (JNF will help you do this),
• Rabbis across the country are making pulpit appeals for JNF,
• Many rabbis and congregants are now in Israel on JNF's Solidarity Mission, July 27 - 31.
Participants will meet Knesset Ministers, visit an Iron Dome battery, pack food and supplies for soldiers and deliver them to the front, pack food and supplies for firefighters and deliver them to Be'er Sheva, work with kids at the Sderot Indoor Recreation Center, meet with Nefesh B'Nefesh olim making aliyah in the midst of the crisis, meet with American high schoolers at JNF's Alexander Muss High School in Israel, and much more.
This is JNF in action. Please share with your congregants all that JNF is doing at this critical time. We hope you and your community will join our relief effort. If you would like pledge cards, a fundraising web page for your congregation, or to get involved in any other way, please email us at education@jnf.org. #JNFalwayswithIsrael.
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Aaron Parker
| Executive Director
Northern California and Pacific Northwest
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