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AMIT FOOD FOR THOUGHT CAMPAIGN BENEFITS CHILDREN IN ISRAEL
New York City, July 12, 2004...... The AMIT Food for Thought Campaign, launched less than a year ago in response to the continuing economic crisis in Israel and the increasing rate of national poverty, is seeking to raise substantial funds to provide meals and textbooks for children enrolled in the AMIT Network of schools and educational facilities. AMIT currently spends more than $1,750,000 to provide breakfast and lunch for thousands of needy students.
"Poverty in Israel," explained Jan Schechter, national president of AMIT, "has risen consistently since the start of the second Intifada. Our student body has become increasingly poor, with parents struggling to provide even basic necessities for their children.
"For many of our students," she added, "the breakfast or lunch at school is their only hot, nutritious meal of the day. Children are arriving at school hungry, and as everyone knows, hunger is a major impediment to learning. It is our mission to ensure than every child in our care has the tools to succeed in school, and the Food for Thought Campaign is our response to this difficult situation."
The number of parents who cannot pay for their children's lunch in school has increased dramatically over the past few years. And, as unemployment in Israel has increased, so has the number of children coming to school inadequately nourished. Their families also can no longer afford textbooks and basic school supplies.
A study by the Joint Distribution Committee in 2003 revealed that 22 percent of Israeli households suffer from inadequate nutrition due to poverty. Subsequent studies have found an even higher percentage of the population to have fallen below the poverty line, with more than 600,000 children living in impoverished families.
The Food for Thought Campaign offers many individual gift opportunities. A donation of $140, for example, will underwrite meals for a class for one day. A gift of $500 will underwrite meals for a day for an entire AMIT school; and $5,000 will pay for meals for one day for the entire AMIT network.
For further information, and to participate in the Food for Thought Campaign, please call 212-477-4720 or 1-800-989-AMIT. You may also Click Here and donate directly on-line.
Since 1925, AMIT has been at the forefront of education in Israel, nurturing and educating Israeli children to become productive, contributing members of society. A majority of AMIT's 14,000 children come from economically disadvantaged and/or troubled families. They reflect all Israel: sabra and new immigrant; religious and secular; Ashkenazi, Sephardi and every nation of the Jewish Diaspora. Today, significant numbers of AMIT students are immigrants from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union. AMIT's 60 schools, youth villages, surrogate family residences and other programs constitute Israel's only government-recognized network of religious Jewish education incorporating academic and technological studies. AMIT is the world's leading supporter of religious Zionist education and social services for Israeli youth.
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Media Contact:
Barbara Goldberg
Director of Communications
212-477-4720, ext. 127
barbarag@amitchildren.org
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