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 Here are the personal stories of just a few of the tens of thousands of Israelis who have turned to WIZO for help: A Parent’s Letter to WIZO: A Cry for Help ...On December 2l, 200l, I was let go from my place of work in a hi-tech company, and since then I have been unemployed. In June my six months worth of unemployment insurance expired. Various professional retraining courses that I was supposed to take were cancelled, and thus our family has been relying solely on my wife's salary as a nursery school teacher... Throughout the year we didn't ask for a tuition reduction for our child, since we hoped that our situation would improve. However, right now we don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Thus, we feel we have no alternative but to ask for a reduction in the day care center fee... We know that WIZO is an organization which usually tries to help people, so we hope that you will be able to help us in this instance as well... Attached are my letter of dismissal, confirmation of the end of my unemployment insurance payments and my wife's salary slip. Respectfully yours and thanking you in advance, |
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| A Family Copes, But Only with WIZO's Support Fourteen years ago, when Moshe, now aged 16, was enrolled at a WIZO day care center south of Tel Aviv, the WIZO staff immediately alerted social service authorities. It was obvious that Moshe was being neglected. Moshe's mother suffered from a mental illness and was in and out of the hospital. Today, Monique, Moshe's younger sister, aged 18 months, is one of the babies at the center. She follows her sister, who now attends grade school, who also attended the same WIZO day care center. The children's father is unemployed, trying desperately to keep his family together, and they subsist only on public assistance payments. Upon their enrollment at the WIZO day care center, all of the children were malnourished, frightened and withdrawn. The WIZO day care center has showered them with love in an attempt to give each one of them the individual attention that they are lacking at home. The staff members are in ongoing contact with the father, and regularly follow up on the progress of the older brother and sister. This is one of the faces of poverty in today's Israel. As difficult as it has been for these children, their lives have been immeasurably improved by the staff of their WIZO day care center. How can I help? |
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| WIZO Comes to the Aid of Russian Immigrant Children Nadav lives with his mother and three brothers and sisters. His mother, who is disabled, brought the children over from Russia four years ago. The whole family was in a state of trauma after suffering years of physical abuse at the hands of an alcoholic father in Russia. In Israel, Nadav and his family get by on public assistance payments, but the WIZO day care center which Nadav attends in the South of Israel also comes to the family's aid. Their situation is so bad that any left-over food from the kitchen at the day care center is packed and given to Nadav's mother to take home. The director at the day care center also makes it a practice to sit with Nadav's mother, trying to help her organize her scant finances and giving her encouragement wherever possible. In a reflection of the severity of the economic downturn, in increasing numbers, WIZO day care centers are providing food to the families of the children in their care. How can I help? |
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| Unemployment Compounds Family's Other Problems Orly is two and a half, and already in her short life, has seen what unemployment can do to a family. Her parents are frustrated that they cannot even provide sweets for their children, but unemployment comes against the backdrop of even more serious problems. Orly has a brother with heart problems and a sister with cancer. The staff at the WIZO day care center in the Tel Aviv suburbs try to make Orly's stay at the center as happy as possible, knowing what she faces at home. How can I help? |
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