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“Our goal is to provide people walking along life’s edge with what they need to move forward.”

 It was a chance visit to her local supermarket back in 1999 that led Fran Held, a Pennsylvania wife and Mom, into a world she never imagined.  While making a purchase in the bakery department she witnessed the manager preparing to toss a perfectly beautiful sheet cake into the garbage because of a crack in the icing. With so many hungry people nearby, Fran could not imagine something like this happening. Even more astounding was the manager’s admission that they routinely tossed leftovers at the close of business each and every day.

Spurred on by this revelation, Fran asked the manager if he would donate those leftovers if volunteers arrived on schedule each day to pick-up. When he agreed, Fran went into action and organized a group of volunteers who ran daily pick-ups and delivered to local shelters and pantries in the area.

The Mitzvah Circle Foundation is the natural outcome from those earliest days of food rescue. Today, Fran’s passion to help people living “on the edge” includes numerous other programs made possible by a large contingent of local volunteers who represent many different segments of the larger community. Each program, whether it addresses the needs of homeless people, those with insufficient food, individuals in crisis or those dealing with serious illness, a diaper bank or school supplies for children from families that cannot afford the materials needed for effective learning, is facilitated with a deeply personal and compassionate focus.

This program is maintained on a shoe-string budget with low administrative costs  and (mostly) gifts-in-kind. The Good People Fund offered funding which allowed Fran to purchase new computers and updated software (she had been using donated out-of-date machines), a copy machine, telephone system, additional materials (tables, chairs, telephone) for her donated warehouse space as well as a fund for emergency client needs as they arise. As can be imagined, Fran reports that things are running much more smoothly now!

Over the years we have mentioned the good work of Alice Jonah many times. Once employed as the activities director at Jerusalem’s old Diplomat Hotel which had been converted to an absorption center for mostly elderly Russian olim (refugees), Alice is retired but still helps the residents in many ways.  We support her “home health aide” project which employs stronger residents to help those less independent, remains a life-saving operation.  Newly organized was Bayit Cham, a social group which meets regularly to celebrate birthdays and provide general socialization for the residents. Alice just sent us this great picture of a recent 90th birthday party held for Sonya (holding the flowers.)

We are certain that the faces pictured here may remind many of us of long-lost relatives and we know that the Good People Fund’s modest investment in this group’s activities pays far greater dividends than we could imagine.

As we wind up a two week visit to our Israeli programs there could be no better gathering than this al fresco buffet coordinated by Gideon Ben Ami whose work we have frequently described in these diaries. Gideon’s greatest joy is to help people in any way that he can. We saw evidence of that almost every day, but the group pictured here (minus a few members) represents Gideon’s most creative solution to hunger in Tel Aviv–his soup crew. Each of these dedicated helpers cooks a huge vat of hearty soup at least once each week. Each vat is picked up and transported to a local shelter in a thermal container that sits in the back of Gideon’s small van. There is always high quality bread, rolls and bourekas to accompany the donation.

Be it pea soup, lentil or a twist on a Yemenite vegetable soup, it is always healthy and tasty and made with love. Bitayavon! (hearty appetite)

”One of the most wonderful things about the concerts is that the moms and the children sit together and cuddle while they listen. Or a mom holds the tiny hands of her dancing toddler as they both move to the beat of Mozart. Moms and kids are interacting in ways that we don’t typically see them doing here. One young boy, around 4 years old, is always off-the-wall high-energy, never sits still. Tonight he was silent, rapt, and cozy in his mother’s lap while they both listened intently to classical music. It’s amazing to see this happen!”

When we met Julie Leven, founder of Shelter Music Boston last summer we knew immediately that this was an organization we wanted to help develop. SMB’s focus is on bringing classical musicians to Boston-area shelters for monthly concerts.  Today’s email update from Julie quoted a shelter social worker and proves even more emphatically just how impactful this program can be.

And, to make the point even stronger, a shelter guest at one of January’s concerts told Julie, “The relationship with classical music is like one with mutual joy and respect. Thanks for making us feel valuable.”

We couldn’t ask for more.

I stayed up here until 6 and posted on Facebook that the water was here – I gave out a bunch last night and people have been in and out all day – We appreciate you very much…

 The tiny town of Bud, West Virginia (pop. about 450) might never had made the news if Charleston, the state’s capital had not been impacted by a dangerous chemical spill this past month. For more than a week the region’s water supply was off-limits due to the toxic spill which wreaked havoc on everything from medical facilities to the local economy.

Of lesser note in the media has been the story of Bud, a tiny coal-mining community less than two hours from the capital. Residents in Bud, clearly “hardy folk”, have been without safe water since last September when their local supplier issued a water advisory as the filtration system shut down. Since that time only brown, rusty water has flowed. When Peter Freimark, a Good People Fund board member learned about the problem from an online news report, the situation in Bud resonated with us. Bud  sounds much like the tiny town of McRoberts, Kentucky where we have developed a long-standing relationship over these past three years.

With a few strategic  phone calls we were quickly connected to Virginia Lusk, the principal of the K-8 school who confirmed the problem and acknowledged that some groups from outside the area had heard of the town’s plight and were sending in water. With a bit of bargaining we were able to get the local supermarket to sell us 1000 one-gallon jugs of water which were delivered to the school this past Thursday.

Despite hopes for a quick resolution of the problem, with the water company in the process of being sold and antiquated equipment beyond repair, it will no doubt be some time before anything but rusty water pours from the taps of local homes.

While politicians bicker about  healthcare choices in our wealthy country we often forget what the reality is for millions of people living in poor, under-developed countries where the choices are limited at best. For that reason and many others we love to support Richard Mandell’s work at The Pan-African Acupuncture Project. Though Richard’s work was originally focused on the African continent, last year he and his volunteer acupuncturists traveled to Mexico for their first visit.

With the help of the Good People Fund, Richard and his team recently completed a return visit where they trained 16 local volunteers in this effective alternative therapy. Patients with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, dengue and other chronic illnesses all benefited. The success of these sessions was easily measured by the return visits of many patients who had finally gotten some relief from their symptoms.

As Richard wrote today, “It is so important that we continue our important work–training health workers how to provide care when otherwise there may be none.”

The Good People Fund was thrilled to be able to make this possible.