charities and organizations

Charities and Organizations

Youth of Light

Youth of Light is part of the Meitar Youth Center. It is an orgnaization working with pre-teens and teenagers who are at risk of dropping out of school or getting into trouble. Some of the older kids work in the candle factory located on the grounds where they learn work ethics and responsibility through meaningful work and wage earning.

One of the avenues of revenue is selling candles to Sabon, a worldwide candle retail chain, as well as other shops and private sales. Occasionally they get large orders where they need adult volunteers to help wrap finished candles and clean the candles or molds they use.

ESOA members have been very active in helping Youth of Light keep up with their orders and have enjoyed working with the teens in this endeavor. Facebook page for Youth of Light

https://www.facebook.com/youthoflightproject/?fref=ts

Chai Ashkelon

One of the projects of Chai Ashkelon is to provide the children of the city with warm and nourshing meals that they would not get otherwise. The ESOA is privilidged to be a part of this project. Chai Ashkelon was started by Rabbi Mendel Liberman. http://www.cashkelon.com/

Orr Shalom

Orr Shalom was established in 1980 and is supervised and funded by the Ministry of Welfare. This non-profit organization provides group homes to children who have been removed from their homes by the social welfare services due to severe abuse, neglect, or tragedy. In addition to providing a loving and safe environment Orr Shalom also gives educational, psychological, and material support to the children.

ESOA supports one of these group homes located in Ashkelon. The children in this home are of various ages and our members have been able to meet them and provide a few extras that they would not normally receive. The children are always very appreciative of these acts of kindness.

Barzilai Medical Center

We have had the pleasure of donating to Barzilai Medical Center on a couple different occasions. Once we donated funds to help improve the children's ward at the hospital. Then coming up to Purim 2015 the committee was discussing where the mishloach manot given by ESOA every year should go. One of our ladies showed us a request published in the national newspapers for toys for the children's gift room (this is a room where children can go pick out a gift of choice when they are hospitalized over their birthday or holiday) at Schneider Childrens Hospital and we immediately decided that this is our project. As usual, our request for gifts/donations for this project received an overwhelming response. In fact there were so many toys donated that some were passed on to Barzilai Medical Center which helped get a "gift room" started. Every year since ESOA helped start the gift room at Barzilai we have donated to it. We hope that these small gestures made some little ones stay in the hospital a little bit easier.

English Speakers of Ashkelon