O R T H O D O X   U N I O N

October 30, 2005

To:
Mr. Stephen J. Savitsky
President
Orthodox Union

Attached herein are 2 lists:
A.   Expenditures made with OU Donated Funds
B.   Short-Term Needs

A. Expenditures made with OU Funds

Below is detail showing the uses of the funds as determined by the Vaad Management Committee, headed by Rav Yigal Kaminetsky, Shlita.

Topic

Detail

Amount

Equipment

Needs for Sukkot:  Distribution of Sukkot and 4 Minim at heavily discounted prices

  $35,000

 

Essential supplies (for most of the families) whose things are still locked in their containers: teakettles, toaster-ovens, electric hot plates, heaters, folders, school supplies.

  $42,000

Nitzan

Cultural Activities for Nitzan residents, torah clubs, and aid in establishing yeshiva/kollel.  Also general gathering for all Gush Katif residents motzei Simchat Torah in Nitzan – second hakafot.

  $50,000

Gush Katif Youth

Organized Group Trip on Sukkot

  $  7,000

 

Night of Learning on Hoshana Rabbah for all Gush Katif youth in Nitzan

  $10,000

 

“Zula” program OU Israel Center – new work with Gush Katif youth

  $20,000

Welfare Department

Salaries for social workers for months of September and October, logistical expenses in supporting all social welfare volunteers.

  $30,000

Agriculture

Commuting (truck and bus rentals) for groups of youth – volunteers to aid Gush farmers in building greenhouses in the Negev.

  $26,000

 

                                                                                                      Total:

$220,000

B. Urgent Needs:
In addition to the items delineated above that we need to continue and expand upon, below is a list of items we are burdened with and request assistance in their execution:

1.  Employment:
Over 75% of the residents lack employment; this difficult reality demands quick intervention.  Our intent is to establish an employment department that will be staffed by professionals.

These teams will go through all the communities identifying the unemployed and map them according to their desires, skills, ability, etc and afterwards will assist them in finding jobs, training courses, professional retraining and more.   Estimated cost (for a 6 month period) for establishing the department with additional basket of services that include: professional assessments, professional courses and retraining (in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Trade), follow-up with each resident until they secure suitable employment – likely to reach a sum of $400,000.

2.  Expansion of Welfare and Community Department (including Youth):
The need for follow-up of the residents by social welfare and community workers is urgent and extremely important.  Many families find themselves in very complex situations.  Since most of the community is still not in permanent residences, the local welfare agencies are not at all connected to the community from Gush Katif.   And because most are not classic welfare cases, they are reluctant to open up files in the Welfare Department.   Also, we reemployed the youth department that functioned in recent years.

We understand that the expansion of our welfare and community department is a very important and urgent mission.  Our aspirations are to employ a maximum number of social welfare and community workers from among residents of the Gush or from among those close to them.

It is pointed out that today we manage on these issues in a very limited way and of course  “a handful doesn’t satisfy the lion”.  The annual cost of the Welfare and Community Department is likely to reach a sum of $500,000.   This sum includes professional salaries and ongoing budget for operations.

3.  Individual Aid to Families:

Many families need emergency assistance.  Our goal is to continue operating a Fund that will aid individual families with clothing, supplies (most family are without these supplies because they are still locked in containers) and with loans and/or monetary grants.  This is in addition to that mentioned above - that the vast majority of Gush Katif families are today without a source of employment.

During the last two months huge amounts of supplies were distributed to residents, for example: electric urns, cooking burners, toasters, holiday supplies, etc.  We assisted residents with transporting their containers and worked with farmers in reestablishing their agricultural enterprises and more.

In addition, the advent of winter requires a very serious organization of blankets and clothing and heaters, etc.

In conjunction, we have received requests from families that are about to move in the coming months through a number of housing solutions until they arrive at their temporary solutions (for example – residents of Nitzarim are about to go through 3 caravans until they get to their caravillot in the community of Y’vul that is on the border with Egypt) to receive basic supplies like small refrigerators and plastic closets, etc – all this because their regular supplies are not built for mobility or are too large for the temporary caravans.

For purposes of enabling follow-up and assistance to every family we need very large sums.  First estimate: $500,000.

4.  Student Grants:
The complex situation has brought a large percentage of students from our communities to decide to cancel or postpone their studies this academic year.   Our goal is to establish a Fund that will assist Gush Katif students, encourage and push them to return to their studies.   For this purpose we need a sum of $150,000.

With thanks in advance for all the support and follow-up.

Rafi Seri
Chairman
Vaad Mityashvei Gush Katif

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