21,000 Poor Israeli Elderly Got Winter Aid To Last Them Through Winter Storms

By BJLife Israel Newsroom
Posted on 01/08/18

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has distributed 7,330 blankets, 14,500 grants

JERUSALEM, Jan. 8 – As winter reaches one of its high peaks, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) distributes winter aid for 21,000 struggling elderly citizens across the country.

IFCJ’s winter warmth aid include 7,330 blankets for those with limited mobility, and 14,500 heating grants of NIS 200, to the neediest elderly and Holocaust survivors.

The poorest elderly citizens find it a challenge to pay for heating their homes in the winter, as they must rely on government supplemental income for their basic needs. Many are forced to choose between paying for home heating and food, medicine or other basic necessities.

This winter’s aid, totaling almost NIS 3,300,000, is part of IFCJ's annual Operation Winter Warmth. In 17 years of helping Israel’s most vulnerable citizens since setting up its Jerusalem office, IFCJ has raised over NIS 4 billion ($1.16 billion) from its Christian supporters around the world for hundreds of emergency and daily social welfare initiatives.

In addition to its social welfare projects, IFCJ supports immigration and absorption, invests in the welfare and security of Israeli citizens in times of emergency, and assists hundreds of thousands of needy Jews around the world. In the former Soviet Union this winter, IFCJ  is also helping to fund fuel, heating vouchers, blankets, warm clothing, and winterizing projects costing almost NIS 4,130,000.

“The strength of a society is measured by how it deals with the weakest links,” says Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, IFCJ’s founder and president. “While the Israeli government has taken a number of welcomed but limited steps to reduce poverty among the elderly, until pensions for seniors significantly increase, we cannot stand aside and leave Israel’s oldest citizens alone. We urge Israelis to join us in supporting the oldest among us who need our help, so that they can live their final years in dignity.”