Shelters for Israel: From Weekly
Winnings to Capital Projects

January 3, 2010



Shelters for Israel members at the Nitzana Youth Village in the Negev: (Left to right) Ronnie Abrams,
Rosie Silverstein, current president of Shelters for Israel, Miriam Lax, Handa Stark, a Holocaust survivor
and one of the founders of Shelters, and Ron Silverstein.

1948. A group of friends were meeting for their weekly card game in Los Angeles when they decided to put their winnings to good use. With so many immigrants streaming into Israel, living in tents until the fledgling state could build housing for them, the women decided to save up enough cash to help build homes for their fellow Jews. As Holocaust survivors who fled their native Hungary, they wanted to make sure all Jews had a place to live.

From these weekly winnings Shelters for Israel was born, and the organization soon swelled to more than 500 families. Originally a housing fund that advanced loans to new immigrants for down payments, as the needs of the country shifted, so did Shelters' focus. By eventually contributing directly to Israel Education Fund, Shelters was able to support kindergartens, day care centers and even senior centers for the same immigrants they originally helped in the 1950's.

Shelters' early achievements include building 50 homes with a playground in Kiryat Ono, 77 apartments in Holon, the public library in Kiryat Malachi, dormitories for 60 students on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and many nurseries, kindergartens and youth centers throughout Israel.

To date, Shelters for Israel has built over 35 IEF projects – the majority located in the geographically and economically vulnerable periphery areas of the country, areas where the needs are the greatest.

Recently, five Shelters members led by current President Rosie Silverstein – including those from the founding group and those in the second generation now spearheading the organization – toured throughout Israel. They participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at one of their most recent projects, the water reclamation classroom and laboratory at the Nitzana Youth Village in the Negev that is working on innovative ways to conserve and reclaim water. Participants included MASA youth from the former Soviet Union, residents of the youth village and representatives from the region.

The group also visited the Hatzerim Israeli Air Force Base in the Negev, and Kiryat Ekron, where Shelters funded the renovations of the cultural center.

For more information on how you can be a partner in securing Israel's future,
contact: Overseas Supplemental Giving/IEF at 212 284-6621
or supplemental.giving@JewishFederations.org

The donor-centered mission of JFNA Overseas Supplemental Giving/Israel Education Fund is to provide personalized, named opportunities that directly align with specific philanthropic objectives of donors in the Jewish Federations family.