Project Spotlight: Helping Elderly & Holocaust Survivors with COVID-19
The Fellowship | March 17, 2020
Right now, The Fellowship is on the ground in Israel helping the most vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic, which is sweeping across the globe just as the Jewish people prepare to celebrate Passover. This illness puts fragile elderly and Holocaust survivors at especially high risk.
This is an extraordinary moment in time that calls for extraordinary measures.
This is why The Fellowship is committed to packing and preparing lifesaving food boxes before Passover to ensure that not one survivor who is unable to leave their home goes hungry during this sacred season. We have not slowed down our usual efforts to provide food during this sacred time, and have reorganized our procedures to make sure our staff and beneficiaries have what they need to stay safe during the outbreak.
The Fellowship has moved immediately to create a $5 million emergency fund to cope with the impact of this disease. Through this fund, in addition to providing for the 15,000 elderly The Fellowship already serves with our With Dignity and Fellowship ministry, we’ll be able to help an additional 15,000 people in dire need. We will deliver packages of food, hand sanitizer, and other essential items, reducing the need for elderly to go to the grocery store.
The Fellowship has already contacted thousands of seniors in order to access their urgent needs, as well as address their loneliness. In difficult times like this, elderly are more prone to feeling especially isolated, which is why The Fellowship is organizing hundreds of volunteers, including youth organizations, to assist with delivery of food and contact with isolated elderly.
In addition to providing lifesaving help to the elderly, the emergency fund will provide vital equipment for hospitals and emergency teams struggling to manage the scale of patient needs. This includes immediate assistance to hospitals and emergency medical crews for the purchase of needed equipment such as test kits, respirators, disinfectant equipment, and other lifesaving emergency supplies. The equipment will be provided in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Health.
Please pray that we will be able to provide food and comfort to all during these trying times.