Saving Sderot
Sderot is an Israeli development town located in the northern Negev. It lies less than a mile from the Gaza Strip and for the past 7 years, has been bombed by missiles flying out of gaza. The number of rocket attacks has increased considerably since Israel’s pullout from Gaza in September 2005.
In May 2007, the attacks so significantly intensified that it led to the semi-evacuation of thousands of residents. Roughly half of Sderot’s 24,000 residents have fled. A quarter of the businesses closed. Children stayed home from school and activities once held at libraries and community centers ceased. It has been called a city under siege.
Half of the town’s residents are relatively new immigrants. Somewhere between 30%-50% live below the poverty line. Many are elderly. There is a feeling of anxiety; people are scared.
Of all the problems the people of Sderot face, a critical one that has come to surface is that the Sderot bomb shelters are not ready for a possible Gaza escalation. Public shelters are not under the authority of Israel’s Home Front Command, but are the responsibility of the local municipality. Checks of bomb shelters have found that none of the 60 public shelters are equipped for a long-term stay and more than half require significant rehabilitation.
Our Involvement
A new donor to Hands On Tzedakah came to us with the desire to help the people of Sderot. Our policy of encouraging designated giving permitted this. HOT’s ability to cut through a certain amount of red tape and offer donors the unique ability to feel secure that 100% of their dollars go towards funding a project with no diversion to administration allowed for this. The large NGO’s and other not-for-profits whose often debilitating processes can be a turn-off for someone who wants to get help to those who need it as quickly as possible makes Hands On Tzedakah the logical alternative. HOT sent its Israel representative to Sderot and we determined that working with Reut Afikim Banegev, Click here: "Idealistic Newcomers Reshape Desert Town - Forward.com" based in Sderot, was the right partner to work with. After considering several alternative ways to help, it was decided in conjunction with the donor foundation, that 4 bomb shelters would be rehabilitated and set up as dual purpose shelters so they could be used for after school care when not needed as bomb shelters.
Aside from the shelters, HOT also worked with Table to Table and purchased from a Sderot business all the supplies for the August delivery of food boxes to the needy Border Patrol families.
Contact Information
Shlomit Eckstein, Reut Afikim Banegev, Tel.: 011-972-8-689-9092.
