As Hanukkah approaches, we’re looking forward to the warmth and joy of celebratory gatherings with family and friends. It’s invariably a time of year when our hearts yearn to share this same warmth and joy with others who are having a more difficult time right now. This Hanukkah, BDJ is partnering with Leket Israel, Israel’s leading food rescue organization, which provides food for 330 nonprofit organizations in Israel, and delivers food to 246,000 needy Israeli people each week. We will specifically be participating in Leket’s new project to bring warm, nourishing soup to families around the country. 

During this time of uncertainty, thousands of Israeli families have entered the cycle of poverty with no clear way out. Leket’s Soup Program was established to make use of excess produce it would not otherwise access, while providing food in a manner easy to heat and consume. Working over the past four months at a pilot stage, the project in coordination with a food manufacturer in northern Israel, has developed four different types of vegetable soup. The soups, made without preservatives, are frozen and then delivered in packages of six pintsize servings to 1,000 people serviced through 10 NPO partners throughout the country. The soups are collected by the recipients or delivered by volunteers on a weekly basis primarily to senior citizens. Since July, Leket has delivered over 50,000 pintsized containers of soup through 18 nonprofit agency partners. Distributing soups to those in need provides a good source of nutrition, as well as keeping them warm during the cold winter season. 

$3 = 1 soup 

$180 = Soup for 60 Israelis

Between today and the last day of Hannukah we aim to contribute $5000 (more if we can!) to this Leket project and to be invisible Hanukkah guests in the homes of so many families in Israel.