From Soda Cans in Oregon to the Hungry in Israel

by Karen Reiffman

0 Comments | Thursday, August 02, 2018 under Food Boxes, Shabbat Chicken

One Family's Fascinating Life Journey with Yad Eliezer on the Itinerary

Yad Eliezer is all about helping the poor. But behind that help stands our donors. We always appreciate them. After all, it's their generosity that enables us to relieve some of the suffering of Israel's needy through our many social service programs. What would we do without them?

Yad Eliezer is also all about stories-the true stories of the people we help: we learn about their backgrounds, their families, what they're going through, what their lives are like, what they need.

We don't usually learn though, about the stories of our donors. So when the G. family sent a wonderful donation and we were introduced to their story, a pretty unique one, we hoped we could share it with you.
They agreed, and here it is.

Travis G. writes:
My boys are very passionate about their Judaism, mitzvot, learning Torah and charity.  To better understand their passion let me share a little about our growth. My wife and I were raised in Christianity for 30 years until we researched her family history and revealed she was Sephardi.

We began to dive into the history of what we believed and it was through months of teachings, debates and studying that we left our background and finally felt like we had a real relationship with Hashem.  
It was at this time my boys were of age to start school, so we quickly enrolled them in an orthodox Jewish school. The growth in them and us has been amazing to be a part of, as we are all treading in uncharted waters. The Jewish community, our rabbis and the boys' teachers have inspired, educated and cared for us as their family.

The idea of teaching my boys to be generous and think of others is something we have tried to instill in them since infancy.  The idea of collecting funds in their tzedaka box was something they started doing on their own; they had received the box as a gift from the school and were simply encouraged to put money in it for those in need.  In Oregon, the refund amount changed to $0.10 for a single soda can or bottle. This presented an amazing opportunity for my sons, since my coworkers consume lots of soda. I simply placed a brown bag by the recycle box and sent an email to everyone sharing that my boys were collecting funds. At this time we had not yet picked a charity.  

We started keeping Shabbat and understanding the importance of eating a nice meal around the table. One night my sons mentioned that some kids don't even have food and that we should help them with our tzedaka.  We started looking for a charity that would help Jews in Jerusalem and found Yad Eliezer. We wanted to help with Shabbat dinner (chickens) for poorer families, so that has become our ongoing charity. My boys, family and coworkers now collect cans and bottles for my boys to return to help provide chickens for Shabbos.  

Thank you for helping and providing a way for my three young boys, Kingley Joshua, Shiloh Asher and Finley Ellington to fulfill mitzvot with their tzedaka.

Thank you, G. family, for your charity, for choosing Yad Eliezer, and for sharing your amazing story.

Know any families who've donated to Yad Eliezer? Tell us about them!
 

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