israel Green charity

What can be done to end poverty in Israel?

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Solutions to Poverty, Tzedakah, What can "I" do

Now, that is a fair question. The short of the answer is yes. Or should I say, of course there are! The real question is, what can be done about it? Is there a way to alleviate poverty? Again, the answer is yes! There are many government and not-for-profit programs that address this question, and do indeed work towards solving the problem. Some with more success that others.

The next question is, what are the people in need to do while the problem gets solved. They still need food, clothing, medicine and housing. The basics. That is where Karmey Hesed comes in. Through Karmey Hesed’s programs, those that are in need gain relief from the stresses of poverty until it goes away.

Take the Goldstien family for example. In some ways a typical Israeli family, in other ways, not. There are 5 school age kids at home. The father works at a normal Israeli job, making a normal Israeli salary. The mother works as well. Also earning a typical salary in Israel.

The problem is, its not enough. Between the 2 parents, and even if you include the now reduced government child allowance, there is just not enough to go around. Not only are there seasons where new clothes for the growing children in out of the question, but there are many days, if not weeks, where there is not enough food. Let alone medicines when needed.

Karmey Hesed does its best to help these families. That of course depends on you. Your regular donations to this critical cause are what make it happen.

So please! Open your hearts and click here to donate now, so that those in need  can survive until G-d willing poverty finally ends!

Cash Flow

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Perspective, Self Improvement, Unemployment, What can "I" do

Cash Flow

Cash flow is one of those things that not many people understand. People who are in financial dire straits are very likely a part of that group.

There are several stages into getting out of debt and getting to financial stability. Two central stages of reaching stability are the survival stage, and the stability stage.

This survival stage is about making sure that they’re able to feed the family, get to work and back, and overall to not “lose it all”.

The stability stage is about staying afloat. Where you’re not worried about going further into debt. You are getting by from day to day and there might be a little bit of money to put aside for that rainy day.

If someone does not know how to handle, or better yet manage cash flow, they may heading for disaster. The central “trick” to cash flow management is always keeping in mind that tomorrow’s expenses will very quickly become today’s. There’s no getting away from it.

People who are in financial dire straits as I said above, and do not know how to manage the cash flow, are one day going to find themselves in a very difficult predicament.

It’s all about discipline. Sometimes people without, forget that they are without, and allow themselves too many “luxuries’. Sometimes those luxuries may be little things like flavored yogurt, or a pack of cookies, but those things add up. A friend of mine buys a pack of gum a day. “It’s only three shekels” he says. But those three shekels add up to between 600 and 750 shekels a year if you buy a pack a day. It’s much like the argument against cigarette consumption. It’s “only” X amount of money but in the end its thousands a year.

So cash flow is not only about the timing of monies coming in and going out, it’s also about the discipline to control and manage the monies going out, and of course coming in.

Karmey Hesed’s Newest Video

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Crime, Disposable Income, Divorce, Getting By In Israel, Green Charity, Perspective, Poverty in Israel, Self Improvement, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Terrorism and Poverty, Torah, Tzedakah, Uncategorized, Unemployment, What can "I" do, What can THEY do, World Poverty

Disposable Income

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Social Justice, Unemployment, What can THEY do

Disposable Income

A friend of mine used a great metaphor the other day. We were speaking about the differences between life in Israel vs that of living in North America. He used a very thought provoking comparison. He said that here in Israel when there is no food at home it means, that’s the way it is. Not much to do but to wait until the beginning of the next month, and payday. Whereas in the US one would say, hmmm, no food at home, lets go out to eat!

No, not everyone in Israel has the “Israeli Experience” of not having food at home. In fact, the vast majority do have, and sometimes even plenty of it.

There  are however many many homes where that is very much not the case. As we have discussed before, a disposable income is something that even for the majority of Israeli families is a foriegn concept, pardon the pun.

The question of course still remains, ok, we know that, but what can we do about it?

The Lower the Income, the Higher the Divorce Rate…

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Disposable Income, Divorce

No Kidding…

The divorce rate has stabilized among the middle class but is increasing among the poor, explaining why many separated fathers pay little or no child support.

Divorce

A new study reveals that financial hardship is a major cause of family breakdown. Low-income parents are more likely than others to break up – and they remain poor after the split.

Most of the 700,000 fathers registered with the Child Support Agency pay little child support because their incomes are very low, says the study published in People and Place, the journal of Monash University’s Centre for Population and Urban Research.

More than 40 per cent of the separated fathers in 2001 had a taxable income of less than $15,600. Most were unemployed or in marginal jobs. Overall, despite general economic prosperity, nearly 68 per cent of the separated fathers had incomes of less than $32,000.

As a result, their former partners also experienced desperate financial circumstances. Three-quarters of the mothers were raising children on annual incomes of less than $15,600 plus $2000 to $3000 in family tax benefits.

The study says an estimated 90 per cent of separated parents are registered with the agency. Unless registered, women cannot get the federal government parenting payment.

The study says an estimated 90 per cent of separated parents are registered with the agency. Unless registered, women cannot get the federal government parenting payment. Continued…

If Only it Were This Easy – Getting Out of Poverty

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Perspective, Poverty in Israel, Self Improvement, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Tzedakah, What can "I" do, What can THEY do

Break the Cycle

The Brookings Institution came out out with a study a while back that suggests that its “easy” to get out of, or at least, avoid, poverty. Their suggestions might make sense in the USA, or other developed coutries where the concept of a “Disposable Income” exists. However, in a place like Israel, that is just not the case. Here is their article:

We’re a nation of bootstraps. Pull hard enough and you can pull yourself from rags to riches.

Or so we like to think. New research suggests we’re not as strapping as we might think when it comes to economic mobility.

New research from the Brookings Institution shows that economic mobility – the chance a child born into a poor family has to escape poverty – isn’t as robust as we might think.

If you’re born into a middle-class family, there’s a 76 percent chance you’ll end up middle class or even wealthier. Born into a poor family? Only a 35 percent chance. More here.

Children Of Divorce More Likely To Live In Poverty: Census Report

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Disposable Income, Divorce, Unemployment

Children and Divorce

Children of divorce are more likely to be in poverty and to live with their mothers, according to a new Census report on marriage released today.

According to the report, three-quarters of children in divorced families lived with their mother in 2009 while some 28% of them were below the poverty rate, versus a 19% poverty rate among other children. The first-of-its kind Census report is a compendium of marriage trends and statistics cut by age, race and geography. Some stats:

1) In 2009, women who divorced in the previous 12 months were more likely to be in poverty and reported less household income than recently divorced men. Some 27% of recently divorced women had less than $25,000 in annual household income compared with 17% of recently divorced men. From the Huffington Post.

Great News!!! Israel poverty levels fall to lowest since 2003, But!

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Disposable Income, Perspective, Poverty in Israel, Tzedakah

Poverty In Israel

Yes, you read it right. The poverty level in Israel has gone down. That is great news!

That said, and I am not trying to belittle the progress, but… The numbers are still staggering, and what more, they are not at all that much different. Yes, percentage wise, there is a drop, “…19.8% of Israeli families suffered from poverty in 2010, compared to 20.5% in 2009″. That’s almost a full percent. That’s great! That’s about 3033 families less than the year prior.

The sad part is that there are still about 433,000 families still IN poverty. All of this is of course without getting into questions of what poverty means and how poverty is measured.

Here is a fuller report from Haaretz.

Soccot and Poverty

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Perspective, Self Improvement, Social Justice, Solutions to Poverty, Torah, Tzedakah

Sukkah

On Sukkot, we are instructed to “live in booths seven days…in order that future generations may know that [G-D] brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43).  The Sukkah reminds us of the Israelites’ temporary dwellings during their forty years wandering in the desert. The Sukkah is a symbol of the protection G-D granted us during that transient period when we were instructed to “thrive and increase and be able to possess the land that the Eternal promised on oath to [our] fathers” (Deuteronomy 8:1).  Sukkot is also known as Chag Ha’asif (the Holiday of Gathering). The Torah recognizes this time of year as one during which food was bountiful and the earth full of blessings (Deuteronomy 16:13, 15 and Leviticus 23:39).

G-D’s directions to thrive and increase must not have been easy for a people wandering through the desert. Even with our more sedentary lifestyle, they remain challenging for us. Especially in a time of economic crisis, how do we ensure that food, if not bountiful for all, is at least accessible to all? How do we best fulfill G-D’s commandments to care for our children so they may grow into healthy and productive adults?

From our days wandering in the desert through present times, the Jewish people have acted on G-D’s wisdom and commands, prioritizing the protection of the most vulnerable. On this Sukkot let us be inspired by our rich tradition as a people who place great value on the sanctity and welfare of children. And let us remember that our responsibility lies beyond the mitzvah of welcoming into our Sukkah those who are hungry or in need of shelter. Let us also work to ensure that in our children’s generation, no one knows the ravages of hunger or the sting of poverty.

Adapted from here.

Summer’s Over, Back to School

Posted by admin under Child Poverty, Children, Disposable Income, Getting By In Israel, Poverty in Israel, Unemployment

Back To School

As I am sure is the case in many households, there’s a very interesting point in time that joins two periods in the annual cycle of events. The end of summer vacation and the beginning of the school year.

FOR THE KIDS its a time mixed feelings; feelings of sadness at the end of summer’s “freedom”; feeling of anticipation (and sometimes sadness…) as the new school year approaches. Will there be new kids in the class, who will be my teacher, how will my grades be this year, and so one.

FOR THE PARENT’S part, its a time of excitement at their children’s advancement to a higher grade, and perhaps even a time of relief from needing to keep the kids busy over the summer. There is however another set of feelings that many families experience. STRESS!

The stress of how to make ends meet during this time can be immense. The question becomes, how can an Israeli family with 5, 7 or more kids do it? The answer is not clear…