In Israel...
Ever wonder what $18 can do? Sure, you could buy a new CD or two, perhaps a new t-shirt from your favorite team, or even a burger and fries for you and a friend.
But did you know that $18 can bring a huge smile to someone's face?
For just $18 Ziv Tzedakah Fund can send a grand balloon arrangement to a sick child, a survivor of terror, a lonely Elder or just about anyone who needs a bit of cheer in his or her life.
Your entire contribution will be used for the arrangement and delivery in the Jerusalem area. Ziv, as a matter of policy, uses these donated funds exclusively for the actual cost and delivery of the balloons.
The results are amazing:
'E' said they were beautiful and made the whole family feel good. Their father was killed in a terror attack and their mother died of cancer and they are 3 girls in their late teens and early 20s totally on their own.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
N's mother just called me to say that the birthday balloons arrived today. They were speechless. They have never seen anything like it. N commented that he felt so cared about and not forgotten. He said in 15 years no one has ever made him feel like he felt when those balloons arrived. They put them in the living room and invited his friends and their neighbors over to see them and enjoy them and rejoice with them.
This is one of the most depressed households and yet, B, the mother was laughing when she called me. She said they all keep going back to the living room and looking at them and laughing. What a contrast to how they usually are. Her voice was so much lighter than usual. We achieved our goals with this one again!!!!
Now if we could somehow capture those good feelings and arrange for people like this to have them all the time... But I do believe that although the balloons fall down in a few days and the family goes back to their problems, I think we did succeed in igniting some light in the corner of their darkness that will remain in their hearts much longer than the balloons stay up in the air. Knowing that one is cared about and that someone out there wants to make the person happier and is trying to improve their situation, definitely has a major impact on their psyches. It doesn't solve their multitude of problems, nor bring back their loved ones, but it is a wonderful first step forward out of the darkness
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
L. (survivor of a terror attack) just called to say the ballons were delivered. She LOVED them. She said she laughed and laughed when she saw them and they made her and her whole family soooo happy. She said also that they were magnificent in that there were balloons that stand up on the floor in a kind of stand and the helium balloons inside like flowers in a vase.
She said she had never seen anything like it and that they are magnificent. She arrived home from school Friday afternoon exhausted after a very long drive home with a lot of traffic, very tense and wiped out and she walked into this incredible delivery of balloons that made her smile and cheer up immediately!!!!
She has been going through a very rough period emotionally since her surgery on Pesach ....She is still in a lot of pain from the operation and she hasn't much felt like smiling lately and she so appreciated the cute smiley balloons that in her words, reminded her that there are people who care about her and are helping her and want her to find the strength to keep moving forward and who want her to find happiness again!!!
She is still facing the possibility of the amputation of her finger and various other hardships having to do with shrapnel in her leg, trauma etc but nonetheless since the bombing she somehow managed to finish law school, finish a prestigious legal clerkship in the Knesset, get married and pass the difficult Bar exam and now she has to begin to look for work. She is truly amazing.
