“What I did on my Summer Vacation”

Thanks to B’ezri well over 3,000 kids have something to say

by KR

0 Comments | Sunday, August 11, 2024 under Summer Relief Campaign, Stand With Israel

Remember that classic first-day-of-school assignment? 
Write a paragraph about what you did over your summer vacation.

It would be an especially challenging assignment in Israel this year, it’s been such a different kind of summer, to say the least.

Exorbitant costs of living

First, it’s expensive. Food alone has gone up dramatically, even the government price-controlled basics like dairy, eggs and bread. You can hear people in the supermarket lamenting about prices and it's easy to walk out of the store with a lighter wallet and an equally light bag of groceries. Mortgages are up. And so are electricity costs... 

Bills over summer break, when families generally spend more time at home, can be daunting for average households, but for struggling ones? They’re so much worse. And families in need, with no options, simply end up living without fundamentals.
 

Less awareness

There's also less help out there. Summer's a "deceptive" time of year, with a kind of widespread misconception that somehow, during these months, everyone's "on a break". But its' definitely not everyone. And with no major holidays, there are no major campaigns, and needy families fall under the radar.
 

And a cruel war

These problems would be hard enough to deal with. But this year…this year we also have an added “element” making summer that much harder: a cruel war that's upended so many lives-something that as a leading Israeli charity, we are working to help with, too. 

Fathers continually come and go as they serve in miluim*, families (in the north and south especially), are trying to maneuver through displacement, emotional trauma and upheaval- all the while working to keep their households (along with their sanity) functioning as normally as possible. And everyone is on edge, praying for the return of the hostages and waiting to see what will-or hopefully, won’t-happen with threats from Iran.
 

B'ezri behind the scenes-making a difference

But throughout all the uncertainty, thanks to our donors B’ezri has been quietly but powerfully working behind the scenes to bring stability to thousands of families. Our Summer Relief campaign funds are not only filling in the gaps for food, electricity, and other pressing bills. We’ve also been taking care of children’s well-being by helping send them to camp programs, something that would otherwise be impossibly unaffordable for their parents.

In the southern cities of Ofakim, Netivot and Tifrach alone, for example, where war has hit hard, we’ve organized and helped 3,000 children(!) attend day camps, providing them with diverse, quality activities and something especially important: an invaluable sense of routine and normality. In turn, that’s given their parents who've been trying their best to parent despite the horrors of war experienced first-hand. With their children safely occupied, we’re helping them catch their breaths. Our camps also serve another purpose, providing employment for 400 young men and women as counselors, so they can use their time productively and earn money to help out with expenses at home. 

No one could have imagined we'd be living in such trying times. But B'ezri is working non stop, doing our best to continue to make life just a little bit easier - wherever, whenever and however we can.
And G-d willing on the first day of school if an Israeli teacher instructs her class to write or talk about what they did over the summer?
Thanks to our help, thousands of children will have something good to say.

*reserves

      

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