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Excited About Bread?

April 1, 2009
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Recently, our Board visited some of the schools we work with through our Feed a Child Program. At one junior high school, the principal was very enthusiastic about the assistance we give to youngsters in his school. Sponsored children receive a lunch every day, school books, a backpack, summer camp, and paid participation in school outings. The children are from low income families who cannot afford to provide these basics for their children. Then he told us that the teacher in charge of the program had really showed chutzpah (nerve) when she asked for more. He told her to be happy with what the school was already receiving, but she pushed and pushed till she got her miracle.

Our local contact, Meir, knew what she had asked for, but it was news to me. What was this huge (as he described it) chutzpah? She had asked for bread to give to her students in their first class. “What a difference it makes, if they have something to eat,” she enthused. “It makes it possible for them to learn.” Imagine, children were coming to school so hungry that they were excited to receive a piece of bread!

Two hundred children in the town of Beit Shemesh (”house of the sun”) are on the Feed a Child Program. Working with three elementary schools and two junior high schools, this program is making an impact on an entire community. When we started the program, many children found it hard to concentrate in school because they were hungry. Many children weren’t progressing in their studies because they didn’t have the textbooks. In Israel, parents must pay for the textbooks. Children whose parents couldn’t afford the books tried to look on with classmates or made do with a few photocopied pages, which was all the school could afford with their limited budgets. Now, these children all have books!

After three years of running this program, I wondered if the educators had noticed a change in the scholastic levels of the students in this program. I asked more than one of the principals, who overwhelmingly concurred that the scholastic level had dramatically improved, as the children had enough food and the right tools. They believe that these kids will break the cycle of poverty that has gripped their families for two and three generations. Their education will give them the tools to succeed in life.

Volunteers Set a Good Example

To sponsor a child on the Feed a Child Program requires a commitment of US $60 a month for one year. When you do so, you will be assigned a child and receive a photo of the child and information about him/her. Your gift helps the child, impacts the family with Christian love, and changes a community. We understand that not everyone can make a monthly commitment. Your one-time gift of any size to the project enables us to provide for other needs in the schools. Currently, computers are greatly needed. Each school has only a few, and they are mostly ancient. Classroom educational aids are also sorely needed. As we give, we are improving lives and also changing attitudes toward Christians by our unconditional love.

Since that visit to Beit Shemesh, each morning as I eat breakfast, I think about children who are excited to have a piece of bread. With a heart of praise, I thank God for His bountiful provision, and with a heart of love, I pray that He will provide for the children in Israel. “Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble” (Psalm 41:1, NIV).

As you give to provide hope to the children of Israel, we pray that the Lord will fulfill this scriptural promise in your life.

Blessings from Jerusalem,

Rebecca J. Brimmer
International President and CEO