Every September, classrooms across Israel fill up again with new notebooks and children ready to learn.
But for thousands of Israeli families, the new school year brings back a hard question: how do we put fresh, healthy food on the table every day?
Leket Israel’s answer is a program called Leket Briut (gleaning for health). It is now in its fifth year, and it works because it connects the two places that matter most in a child’s life: the classroom and the kitchen table.
How it works
Every two weeks, each participating family receives a 26.5-pound box of fresh fruit and vegetables, rescued from Israeli farms. Food that would otherwise have gone to waste. The gleanings of the field, gathered up and carried to a family’s door. It is Leviticus 19:9 in a cardboard box.
Through the school year, the children and their parents also join hands-on workshops led by registered dietitians. They learn what a balanced meal looks like and taste fruits and vegetables they have never tried before. Then they take home recipes and simple tips, so what starts in the classroom ends up on the dinner table.
Moran Kilzi, Head of Nutrition and Registered Dietitian at Leket Israel, puts it this way:
“We believe that by providing fresh fruit and vegetables alongside guidance and practical tools for making nutritious choices, we can create a lasting impact on the health of the next generation.”
“Dad, the boxes are here!”
The best part of Leket Briut is what the children do with it. They come home excited. They become the ones teaching their parents about healthy eating.
Oleg Menker’s daughter is one of them:
“My daughter calls me and says, ‘Dad, the boxes are here! Come pick them up!’ They’re full of fresh, healthy fruit and vegetables we couldn’t otherwise afford. With seven people at home, fresh produce is often a luxury. Now she’s excited to eat foods she wouldn’t even touch before. The lessons she learns at school about proper nutrition have become part of our family’s everyday life.”
A father of seven, in a home where fresh produce was a luxury. Now his daughter runs to the door when the boxes arrive.
One story among 2,100
Last school year, Leket Briut reached more than 2,100 families in 10 elementary schools across Israel. That is 2,100 kitchens where rescued produce shows up every two weeks, and thousands of children learning early that good food is not out of reach.
Every box carries a double blessing: a child is nourished, and good food fulfills its purpose instead of rotting in a field.
You can be part of this
The school year is starting now. The boxes are being packed now.
This is what your support of Leket Israel does. It takes food that was headed for waste and puts it on a child’s plate, with the knowledge to build a lifetime of healthy eating around it.
Your gift of $10 provides 18 rescued meals. A little goes a very long way in the Land.
“You will be blessed for blessing Israel.” — Genesis 12:3
Blessings,
Raymond
Christian Friends of Leket Israel