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20 Million Pounds And Still Counting …
T
Jewish community came together to
wenty-eight years ago, Yad Ezra,
address a hunger issue in a dignified,
Michigan’s only kosher food
caring and generous fashion.
pantry, opened its doors to pro-
“Our tradition teaches that there will
vide free supplemental groceries to
always be needy in our community and
low- income Jewish families living in
that we are commanded to help
southeast Michigan. At that
those in need. Now distribut-
time, it was difficult to convince
ing over 1 million pounds of
people in our community that
groceries a year, the staff and
there were Jewish families who
volunteers of Yad Ezra, operat-
were so vulnerable they couldn’t
ing out of a 16,000-square-foot
provide the most basic of neces-
space, are truly guardians of
sities for themselves.
this sacred tradition.”
If there were hungry Jewish
This month, we distributed
families, didn’t the U.S. gov-
Lea Luger
our 20 millionth pound of food.
ernment provide them with
Thousands of families have
food through the food stamp
been helped by our commu-
program (now known as SNAP
nity’s generous support of Yad
— Supplemental Nutrition
Ezra over the years and, yet,
Assistance Program)? When
the need continues. In Michigan alone,
researched, it was discovered that the
583,884 individuals, representing 14.7
monthly SNAP benefit realistically
lasted one week per family, if lucky; and, percent of Michigan’s population, are
food insecure (i.e. they are not confident
more often, not even that long.
of having their next meal).
Fortunately, the founders of Yad Ezra
persevered; volunteers and supporters
became engaged, and the food pantry
ADDRESSING HUNGER
started on its path of providing grocer-
Congress addresses hunger through
ies, toiletries and household cleaning
rotating legislation including the
items to families in need.
Farm Bill, which comes up every five
“It is amazing how quickly Yad Ezra
years and includes funding for SNAP,
became institutionalized in the Detroit
Child Nutrition Reauthorization
Jewish community, and how much of a
(which also comes up for a vote every
resource it has been continuously to the five years and provides funding for
most vulnerable people in our area over
school breakfast and lunch programs,
the past 28 years,” said Gary Dembs, one snack programs and federal grants for
of Yad Ezra’s founders and first presi-
WIC [women, infants and children])
dent. “The human need will always be
and Appropriation Bills that include
there, and our volunteers will always
TEFAP [the emergency food assistance
step up to help their neighbors.”
program], a supplemental food pro-
Michael Eizelman, another Yad Ezra
gram, tax credits and the Commodity
founder and past president, said, “From
Supplemental Food Program for the
humble beginnings in a basement
elderly. And yet, 42.2 million Americans
office/warehouse/distribution space
(12.7 percent of American households or
of a few hundred square feet, a diverse
more than 1 in 8 people) are food inse-
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Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari
S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam
Finkel, Stacy Gittleman, Stacy Goldberg, Judy
Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss
Ingber, Allison Jacobs, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz,
David Sachs, Karen Schwartz, Robin Schwartz,
Steve Stein, Joyce Wiswell
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cure. In the Metro Detroit Jewish com-
munity, 1,300 families are food insecure,
representing 3,000 individuals. The aver-
age annual income of Yad Ezra’s client
families is currently less than $14,000,
most of which comes from social secu-
rity benefits.
“We started many years ago address-
ing the simple truth that no one
should ever go hungry and every per-
son deserves wholesome food,” said a
founder and former Yad Ezra president
Howard Zoller. “We were confident in
the knowledge that our community is
so very generous … mixed in scores of
dedicated volunteers and an amazing
staff … and the result …Yad Ezra.”
While Yad Ezra’s leadership is proud
of the fact that we have been able to dis-
tribute 20 million pounds of free grocer-
ies over the past 28 years, it is humbling
to realize that it is not enough.
Over the years, Yad Ezra has
embarked on a number of efforts to
raise awareness about the issue of hun-
ger through partnerships with other
agencies, letter and paper plate cam-
paigns, events and programs. While
we continue to provide an increasingly
large variety of healthy proteins, pro-
duce, whole wheat carbs and other
items every month, we can’t rest on our
laurels.
As an emergency food provider, we
have made a moral commitment to our
client families that they can continue
to rely on us for food for as long as
they need our help. To that end, efforts
to help educate the community and
provide a better understanding of food
insecurity is important to Yad Ezra’s
leadership.
The Department of Human Services
in Michigan states that the average food
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stamp allocation per person is $4.20 per
day. Yad Ezra volunteers and staff who
have helped clients register online for
SNAP since 2007 prove otherwise; we
have seen an average allocation of only
$16 per month.
TAKE THE FOOD
STAMP CHALLENGE
On May 23, we are hosting a 24-Hour
Food Stamp Diet Challenge that begins
at 7:30 p.m. at the Meijer on Telegraph
and 12 Mile Road. Participants will
meet at the store armed with $4.20 that
they will use to buy food to feed them-
selves for 24 hours. To fully experience
the plight of someone relying on SNAP,
no other food should be consumed
other than the SNAP allocation for the
24-hour period.
As the Farm Bill will soon again be
up for Congress to determine dollars
allocated for SNAP for impoverished
families in the U.S., it is important for
us to understand the impact and reli-
ance on SNAP benefits for those living
in poverty.
While Yad Ezra is prepared to con-
tinue providing free groceries to vulner-
able families for as long as it is neces-
sary, it is our hope that our government
will continue to provide and improve
its partnership with us in our efforts to
ensure that no one suffer from hunger.
“Yad Ezra has a proud history of
serving our community, which started
with the vision of our founders,” Jeffrey
Supowit, Yad Ezra’s current president,
said. “We never stop thinking about how
to better serve our community and, God
willing, distribute the next 20 million
pounds.” •
Lea Luger is executive director of Yad Ezra.
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April 5 • 2018
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