October 2022
Dear Friend of Israel,
The other day I received a call from Mina, the head of a small Child Development Center in Kiryat Arba. The center, Neve Avraham, was founded by her mother after she adopted an abandoned baby with multiple disabilities. Today, Mina runs the center, providing a variety of therapies and treatments to children with developmental disabilities, learning disabilities and other handicaps. But her constant challenge is finding the funding to cover all her expenses. While the government covers the costs of the therapies, there is no government funds available for upkeep of the facility, training programs for the therapists and a host of other vital needs. CFOIC Heartland has helped Neve Avraham in the past, but when I looked at our current situation, I noted that no funds had come in for Neve Avraham in quite some time. Mina was disappointed but she understood we are trying our best.
I get similar calls from communities all the time. While you, our amazing donors, have done so much to support so many important projects, there are often projects that end up being neglected for a time. Our security projects are very attractive to donors as they should be – security equipment literally saves lives. And our hearts go out to severely disabled children who require the services of Heart of Benjamin, Bet Hagai and Gevaot. But there are ordinary people with “smaller” issues that we want to help. And we don’t always have the funds to help them.
Communities turn to us to help them provide programming for senior citizens, parks and playgrounds for children and their families, and assistance for child development centers. These are the ordinary needs of ordinary communities but in Judea and Samaria, they can be the difference between a community that grows and a community that fades away. Sometimes, supporting these programs is just a good way to tell the ordinary people in these communities, facing their ordinary problems, that you care about them, that you are grateful they are there, that you want to send them your love.
I know you have probably donated to projects of this sort that we have highlighted over the years. But today, I want to ask you to encourage brave pioneers by sending a special earmarked donation “to help Judea and Samaria grow” by December 31, 2022. What a blessing you will be for the people who, by their very presence in this area, are fulfilling prophecy and holding on to the Land of Israel. They may be ordinary people but they are accomplishing extraordinary things.
Thank you so much. May G-d bless you richly for all you have done.
Sincerely,
Sondra Oster Baras
Director, Israel Office
P.S. If you are in North Carolina, Florida, or Texas, I hope you’ll be able to come to one of our in person events later this month. If not, please invite anyone you know in the area to attend! If you are unable to attend we covet your prayers for Shmuel as he travels. A full schedule of events is available on our website at www.cfoic.com/events.
