Hungry children cannot learn properly. This is a very serious problem in many Jerusalem schools. YAD ELIE is trying to correct this unfortunate situation with your help. Our ultimate goal is to assure that every child gets adequate nourishment daily. Help is being provided only to a few selected schools. If enough funds can be raised, children from other schools (that have also asked for assistance) can be fed as well.

Most primary schools in Israel hold classes only until mid-day. In many cases, children from poor families come to school undernourished and do not carry along the mid-morning snack other children bring from home. As a result, they go through the entire morning hungry, while others are well fed. In the past ten years, the ministry of education has been developing extended day programs in which schools work until mid-afternoon. In Jerusalem , twenty-five of the seventy-five primary schools take part in these enrichment programs which include a lunch break at mid-day. One important reason for these programs is to ensure that all pupils get at least one nutritious meal a day. But these meals are not provided free of charge. In the poorest of schools the cost is subsidized, yet there is still a nominal charge which many parents simply cannot afford. A situation is therefore created in which some children have food to eat at lunchtime, while their classmates do not.

In another government program, a special night school set up to help teenage dropouts complete their high-school equivalency exams, a number of students come to classes hungry.

In 2004-2005, YAD ELIE raised enough funds to provide hot meals for about two hundred and fifty school children and light meals for some forty others, on a daily basis.

* Apply for funding from Yad Elie for your school or organization

Special Pilot Project

YAD ELIE is aware that although it helps hundreds of children get a nutritious meal daily, this assistance is just a "drop in the bucket". What is really necessary is to ensure that each and every child gets the required nutrition so that they can grow properly, feel secure, and concentrate on learning . Then all children will have an equal opportunity to get ahead academically, helping to close today's widening socio-economic gap.

A pilot-program which YAD ELIE funds takes place in an East Jerusalem school. In this program, YAD ELIE has provided kitchen facilities and basic food supplies needed so that 50 girls can be fed on a daily basis. Daily, a nutrition teacher educates ten of these girls on how to prepare healthy and balanced meals, and supervises the girls as they cook the meals. We are very proud of this program and its ability to feed more children at less cost, while enriching these pupils with such important life-skills.