Bridges for Peace IN ACTION: Practical Gifts for Practical Needs

March 30, 2010

If you’ve ever moved, you have a small idea how huge a life-change such a move as this is. But add to your move the fact that you can’t communicate with anyone because you don’t know the new language, and your arrival has just become much more complex. Everything you first need starts with filing paperwork through numerous governmental offices. Where are they located? How do you get there? Will they understand you? In the meantime, your family needs to eat, but you own not one pot to cook with. It’s winter, and though you might have a bed to sleep on, you may not have linen or blankets yet, or you may have one blanket but need five for the whole family.

Faced with all these practical needs, the euphoria of this move-of-a-lifetime quickly fades into discouragement unless a friendly neighbor (who hopefully speaks your language) or government official (who is unusually kind) provides some extra assistance…or if another new immigrant tells you about Bridges for Peace. Through our Welcome Program, generous Christian donors from around the world provide immigrants with some of the basics they need to start life over “from scratch” in their new homeland.

THE BFP GIFT PACKAGE

Each item of the gift package is important to them. Pots, pans, and kitchen utensils can be expensive in local stores, so receiving a starter set free is a great help in stretching a few shekels to meet so many needs. During the winter months, parents are relieved to receive blankets that will keep their children warm. Most immigrants are delighted to receive a Bible—the Jewish Scriptures (or the Tanach, the Old Testament)—which is available in Russian, Spanish, and English, alongside Hebrew. Children who arrive during a school session, of course, need a few basic supplies for their first days in school, so our school kits are eagerly received. Each gift includes a card with the name and country of origin of the sponsors who donated the item, giving the gift a very warm, personal touch.