For poor families, summertime is an extended time of suffering
The phrase “summer vacation” conjures up images of the shining sun, ice cream, family trips, laughter and smiling faces...
There's a stark difference though, between those happy images and reality for thousands of impoverished families in Israel, including single parent homes and households that are still trying to recover from the pandemic’s extended period of unemployment.
For them, summertime is no vacation. Outings and fun treats simply don't exist. Summer is just weeks of worry and stress:
Worry over the most minimal daily expenses like how to find grocery money to healthfully feed a houseful of children who won't be enrolled in summer programs. Stress from the resulting vicious cycle: kids at home means parents can't go to work, which means no desperately needed income.
Worry over how to reduce the family's suffering from the intense, stifling Israeli heat if there's no air conditioning in the home.
Stress from the soaring electric bill, if there is.
Without structure & the safe framework of school, kids are at greater risk of hanging out on the streets. Needy children are also at risk of the "summer slide"- falling behind in reading and math skills, a widespread phenomenon prevalent in impoverished homes.
Summer in poverty is a season of standstill, malnutrition and risk-which make it a season of instability and crisis. As one of the biggest Jewish charities that help the poor, American Friends of Yad Eliezer works to combat this through our Summer Relief Campaign. You can help, too. Your donations to this program are crucial-they will help keep children enrolled in programs and properly fed. They'll keep homes functional during the long summer break, giving families that are in desperate need, a bit of a break, too.
Please help us bring enjoyment, through relief, back to summer.
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