Leket Israel—Israel’s National Food Bank and largest food rescue organization provides 40,000,000 lbs. of excess, fresh produce and cooked meat meals to over 200,000 struggling Israelis per week. The organization serves Israelis of all backgrounds (the elderly including Holocaust survivors, the working poor, teens and children at risk, lone soldiers and many more). The surplus food is “rescued” from hundreds of farmers, corporate cafeterias, hotels, and the IDF throughout Israel (the food would otherwise be destroyed or left to rot in a landfill) and delivered, free of charge, to those in need through Leket Israel’s 200 non-profit partners. Leket Israel is apolitical and is the only organization rescuing food en masse for Israelis in need.

The UNITAF Program in Tel Aviv is a group of kindergartens serving around 250 children of refugees. Leket provides 1,000 lbs of produce a week, and the staff cooks it for the children’s lunch. It costs $180/week to meet their produce needs.

As the economic crisis in Israel continues to deepen some 20% of Israelis are now unemployed (up from just 4% in March), with many families requesting food assistance for the first time. In the first seven months of 2020 Leket Israel delivered 1,610,000 cooked meat meals and 25.8 million lbs. of fresh, surplus produce to people in need—a 15% increase over 2019. But this is not enough and as the pandemic drags on more and more businesses will shutter and families will be forced into poverty.