Christian Friends of Leket Israel
They survived the Holocaust.
Today, more than one in three
need help just to eat.
Now they need you to stand with them.
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Chapter One — The Need
111,000 survivors
still live in Israel.
There are around 111,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel today, and 37% need daily assistance to access basic, essential food.
In today’s challenging security reality, and as antisemitism rises around the world, it is our duty to ensure they live with dignity and are not forgotten.
— Leket Israel, 2026
The Toll
What old age costs a survivor
Chapter Two — Esti
She was three when
the Nazis came.
Esti was born in Olnov, Poland. When the war broke out her family fled to the forest and hid for three years, until they were caught. She escaped with her sister Rachel. The rest of the family was murdered.
In November 1948 she came to Israel with Youth Aliyah. She worked as a nurse at Rambam Hospital, raised three children, and has six grandchildren. At 83 she was living in a home for Holocaust survivors below the poverty line, where Leket Israel brings the hot lunch every single day.
Everyone who was hungry like me, who reached the point when they were no more than skin and bones, cannot stand watching food being thrown away. It takes me back to that place. For that reason, I am so happy to see the work that Leket Israel does.
— Esti, 83, Holocaust survivor · leket.org, 2017
Her neighbour, Miriam, 82
I remained alive to tell my story.
Miriam survived five years in Auschwitz and other camps on the piece of bread she was given each day for her work. Her parents and thirteen brothers and sisters were murdered there. She calls Auschwitz “my family’s graveyard.” Today her lunch comes from Leket.
— leket.org, 2017
Chapter Three — Leket Delivers
Every week.
In routine and in war.
Leket Israel works year-round to make sure no one is left behind, delivering hot, nutritious meals each week to elderly individuals and Holocaust survivors across the country, in routine and in times of emergency.
The meals are rescued, not bought: surplus cooked food from hotels, corporate cafeterias and IDF bases, collected the same day and delivered through Leket’s network of nonprofit partners. At Esti and Miriam’s home, whatever the seventy residents don’t finish goes on to a shelter that same afternoon. Nothing is wasted.
Fortunately, Leket Israel was already there
Built for this. Trusted for 23 years.
In their words
It’s a blessing from heaven. The food is prepared and of great quality.
— Lillian Levitt, assisted living, Jaffa · leket.org
It’s exceptional. Why? Because it frees you from the worry of preparing the main meal of the day.
— Moshe, welfare housing for the elderly · leket.org
The fight isn’t over
The war is over.
The hunger isn’t.
Israel is emerging from two years of war. The cost of living keeps rising and food prices are at record highs. A survivor on a fixed pension feels it first, and feels it alone.
Alongside remembrance, we must also act.
Why Leket Israel
Why you can trust Leket Israel
- Israel’s largest food rescue organization — surplus produce from farms and packing houses, cooked food from hotels, corporate cafeterias and IDF bases, redistributed through 346 nonprofits.
- Active every day since 2003 — 23 years of experience supplying food in both routine and emergency situations.
- Rescue costs less than purchase — it is more cost effective to rescue food than to buy it, so your dollars go further.
- Transparent and accountable — audited financial statements published in English every year.
- Tax deductible — online gifts are tax deductible in the U.S., Canada, the UK, France and Israel. Christian Friends of Leket Israel is a program of Leket Canada, registered charity 827292921RR0001.
The gleaning model: a commandment still kept today
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest… you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.”
Leviticus 19:9–10
The Hebrew word leket means “to glean.” Three thousand years ago, God commanded farmers to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of the harvest for the poor and the stranger. When Boaz left grain in his field for Ruth, he was keeping that command. Leket Israel carries it into the present, rescuing surplus food that would otherwise be wasted and bringing it to those in need.
When you give, you help leave the corners of the field for the people who have already lost the most. You stand with God’s people inside His ancient promise to bless those who bless Israel.
Make your gift
They survived the camps.
Don’t let them face hunger alone.
Every gift puts a hot, nutritious meal in front of an elderly Israeli or a Holocaust survivor, week after week, through Leket Israel.
“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”Matthew 25:40
“I will bless those who bless you.”Genesis 12:3
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