Hazon Yeshaya Institutions
Hazon Yeshaya Soup Kitchens is an Israeli charity organisation which runs soup kitchens throughout Israel.
Hazon Yeshaya was founded in 1997 by successful businessman Abraham Israel, of New York. It started out as a "small kitchen to serve 17 starving Jerusalem residents" but its responsibilities soon snowballed into Providing more than 400,000 hot meals each month at over 60 distribution points throughout Israel.
As part of its activities, Hazon Yeshaya identifies and documents survivors of the Shoah, many of them impoverished. Currently the organization maintains a registry of some 15,000 names from more than a dozen countries. 2,900 survivors already receive hot daily meals from Hazon Yeshaya through Project Reach Out. Additionally, Hazon Yeshaya distributes staple food packages and hot meals to some 5,000 individuals who are registered.
School officials often notice that some school children are sitting in school lunch rooms watching their better off friends eat. The school officials identify and document the kids as coming from impoverished families. Hazon Yeshaya steps in to assist. 80% of Hazon Yeshaya's hot, nutritious meals are thus distributed to school children in school lunch programs and afternoon extended school programs.
Hazon Yeshaya also runs free Dental Clinics available to all of its registered clients, young and old. It also offers free vocational training to the unemployed. Hundreds have already studied Hairdressing, Barbering, Cosmetics, Wig Making and Repair, Computer Skills and Secretarial Skills. Almost all of Hazon Yeshaya's graduates have found jobs and no longer come to its Soup Kitchens for food assistance.
For the working poor, Hazon Yeshaya runs free Day Care Centers where the youngsters receive expert care and two meals a day while their parents try to earn a living. Free clothing and shoes are distributed to the needy. And, Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations are organized and paid for by Hazon Yeshaya for orphans and kids from broken homes.