Day Care Centers

In Israel, the state only funds education from the age of five and onwards. Those who cannot afford private preschool programs do not enroll their children. Hazon Yeshaya values early education, knowing that 3-5 year-olds must learn the Alef Bet, colors, shapes, numbers, and other basic knowledge so that they are fully prepared to enter the first grade. That’s why we created three preschools that offer children a strong educational foundation, as well as two nourishing meals per day. The schools cater to children from poor communities, and are recognized by the Ministry of Education.

School Food Distribution

We distribute food directly to schools throughout Israel, feeding children who have been identified by teachers or staff as not receiving sufficient food in their homes. These children start the day without breakfast, don’t even receive a sandwich for lunch, and after school are often left to fend for themselves to find dinner. Our program enables such children to receive a hot lunch every single day and concentrate on their studies instead of the hunger pangs in their stomachs.

One of the schools we help is the Polinsky School in Kiryat Yovel, a poor neighborhood in Jerusalem, where children receive their only hot meal of the day from Hazon Yeshaya.

We also provide meals to children at the Hadar Center in Rishon L’Tzion, where many of the children are recent immigrants to Israel.

Extended Day School (Enrichment) Programs

We provide meals to afternoon, extended-day programs throughout the country, helping to keep children off the streets and in supervised enrichment programs in math, science, languages and computers. Our hot, daily meals are an incentive to these children to remain in school and continuing learning.

Private Programs Volunteers deliver 440 meals to neighborhoods such as Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Ze’ev in Jerusalem each day, feeding children from abusive, dysfunctional, and destitute homes. In many cases, our volunteers must supervise the meals to ensure that the children are able to eat the food intended for them.

Special Needs When government funding cut into educational budgets, Hazon Yeshaya stepped in to ally with schools supporting programs for children with special needs. We now provide hot meals to poor children with Down Syndrome, autism, and behavioral problems in schools throughout the central region of Israel.