About the project
The Jerusalem Foundation has established several social welfare funds over the years to assist the underprivileged. In 1974, it established the first such fund to enable needy families to maintain basic health standards and living conditions. Families with an average of eight children received essential one-time payments to cover special expenses not covered by subsistence welfare payments, such as the purchase of second-hand washing machines, attendance at summer camps and minor apartment repairs. The funds have grown over the years with the support of donors worldwide to enable the Foundation to provide modest support to hundreds of families, as well as agencies and organizations that provide health, education and social services for every imaginable population, including Holocaust survivors, new immigrants, the physically disabled, Alzheimer patients, trauma victims and much more. Recipient organizations have included: the Israel Association of Foster Families; the Jerusalem Brigade Project (for children whose fathers have been killed in the line of duty); Yated, the Association for the Rehabilitation of Children with Down’s Syndrome; Alut, the Israeli Society for Autistic Children; Eyal, the Israel Epilepsy Association; the Jerusalem Institute for the Study of Psychological Stress; Zahavi, the Association for the Rights of Large Families in Israel; the Jerusalem Big Brothers Association; the Association of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities, the Me’uravut Parent Involvement Center; Idan, the Association of Community Based Services for the Elderly; Tsad Kadima (for children with cerebral palsy and other motor disabilities); the 1 + 1 Association for Youth & Young Immigrants; the Jerusalem Mental Health Center-Kfar Sha’ul Hospital; the Israel Cancer Association, the Center for the Alexander Method for Children and many more.