The Jaffa Institute was created to serve those children who grow up in the worst neighborhoods, particularly in South Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Approximately 50% of their target population live below the poverty line. Some 30% regularly receive local welfare services. And the worst statistic of all: Over 50% of the children drop out of school before the 12th grade.
Their long-time director, Dr. David Portowicz, is an impressive individual, whose sincerity about helping children break the cycle of poverty shows in his passionate way of speaking. The Jaffa Institute has set up residential programs in Israel for these kids, to keep them in school and within the system. They offer a complete holistic approach from food to tutoring to counseling, and work closely with the Israeli Ministry of Welfare.
HOT has made grants that provide a therapeutic horseback riding program and new computers for the Institute’s Metsuba Project in the very poor HaTikva quarter of Tel Aviv.
A Jaffa Activity Center has a large outdoors area, but it is an uninviting place: bare ground, few trees, and no equipment for the kids to play on. The institute would like to build a playground which in addition to being a fun place would help the kids learn to interact with each other, develop social skills, communicate, make friends, learn rules and cooperation. $5,143 of designated gifts would make the playground a reality. The individual item costs are: $1,857 for Playground equipment, $1,286 for Sports Equipment, $1,143 for Contractor’s fees, and $857 for Safety Surfaces.