Dear friends,
We thought you might like to know how we spent the money you donated to The Jonah Maccabee Foundation in 2018.
Here’s the rundown of the grants we made:
1) California Fire Foundation: The wildfires in California devastated so many lives. California Fire Foundation’s SAVE program provides financial assistance and other support services to survivors struggling to put their lives back together.
2) Families Belong Together: As we continue to witness America’s betrayal of its long-standing passion for being a nation of refugees, some 250 organizations representing Americans from all backgrounds have joined together to fight family separation and detention, seek accountability for the harm that’s been done, and to reunite all families who remain torn apart.
As we continue watching refugees at our southern border be treated with cold-hearted animus, all of us want to try and be of help. Fortunately, we have friends who are lending a hand. Catholic Charities’ Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, TX, is frequently the 2nd stop for those entering our country. After processing at the U.S. Border Patrol immigration processing center in McAllen, men, women, children and infants are released to the Respite Center for food, a shower and other care until they move on to join their family or sponsor, awaiting their date in immigration court where they will be granted or denied their asylum claim.
We are heartbroken here at The Jonah Maccabee Foundation as we watch families being separated at our nation’s border, with children experiencing grave trauma from the prospect of never seeing their parents again. As our summer campaign concludes, we know that this is exactly what Jonah would have wanted us to do with the money you’ve entrusted to us. RAICES, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, is hard at work throughout the state or Texas providing free legal information, referrals and direct representation for unaccompanied children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Given their proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, RAICES is uniquely positioned to help thousands of children find their way back home.
With your generous donations, we’ve been able to make a grant from the Jonah Maccabee Social Justice Fund in support of the NFTY-Reform Movement Gun Violence Prevention Campaign. The North American Federation of Temple Youth has long been involved in gun violence prevention. Now, in the aftermath of the shootings at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and in response to the remarkable activism of the teen survivors there, NFTY has upped its game. We’re honored to serve as ally to every young person who is taking a stand in this difficult but crucial struggle. Jonah would have been right there beside you.
Far away and out of mind, but the Republic of Yemen, in the Arabian Peninsula, is contending with violence and famine and disease as a result of six years of internal and external conflicts. 7 million people are at risk of famine, with more than a million children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition. The nation has been struck by a cholera epidemic and the national blood bank may close due to lack of funds.
“I will never forget the sight of Jonah leading a group of tenth graders into the Manhattan subway system to find where the homeless were and to offer them food and a kind word” (Billy Dreskin, Jonah Maccabee Foundation).
We recently learned about a beautiful Israeli project called “The Road to Recovery” in which more than 750 volunteers drive critically ill Palestinians (mostly children) to receive medical treatment in Israel. 10,000 recovery trips now happen each year!
There are so many ways that we see Israelis and Palestinians coming together. We’re touched by them all. This one, saving lives one at a time by making sure patients can get from the West Bank and Gaza to hospitals throughout Israel for treatment, is simply fantastic.
