This organization looks amazing. It was started by one man out of the back of his car and now serves approximately 140,000 meals weekly from food that would have been wasted! The amount of food wasted everywhere is staggering and this site is proof that it can feed the masses and proof that one person can move mountains [in this case – food]. I applaud them for what they are doing with getting fresh produce to people and healthy food to poor school children. In Jerusalem, there are many street vendors and shops that sell fresh squeezed orange, carrot, and other juices which are healthier than the soft drinks people tend to consume. I noticed when I was involved with getting food to poor people in Louisiana that it could be appalling what they were being fed by others, even through churches and the food bank. Many peoples diets today are horrible. They are killing themselves and their loved ones over not spending the time learning how to eat right, shop right, cook right. You can have a busy schedule and still make food from scratch and healthy if you plan a little and even get the whole family involved.

The MESSIAH [CHRIST] said to, “do unto others what you would have them do unto you”, Luke 6:31 [read verses 17-38 for the full meaning of what HE is saying] and, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”, Mattityahu [Matthew] 25:45 [read verses 31-46 to get the full meaning of what HE is saying here too]. The food I saw handed out to the poor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana should really not be called food. There was hardly any nutritional value to the majority of it as contents were primarily loaded with salt and sugar and chemicals. I felt that giving these things out to the homeless and poor, who surely had health issues including diabetes, high blood pressure, and other problems, was not doing what the MESSIAH commanded as stated at the top of this paragraph. I felt ELOHIM [Hebrew word for GOD] challenge me to give the poor food I would want to eat and that I would serve to the MESSIAH. I ended up giving others as good as I was feeding myself because I wanted to do right by them and do what the MESSIAH wants, so I worked on getting past negative feelings on how much extra money it cost me.

I try to eat primarily organic [not grown with pesticides/chemicals and not genetically modified] whole grains, vegetables, fruit, grass-fed beef/chicken [grass-fed beef and the blood drained out of meat are both per the Bible], free-range eggs, and fluoride free water [independent studies have shown fluoride causes weak bones, immune system and memory problems] and I most often cook from scratch. Another big thing, in Scripture the Israelites were told to gather manna and use it up in one day. Studies show that when wheat kernels are cracked open, up to 90% of the vitamin E is lost in 72 hours! Our Daily Bread is important for our health. I have been milling my own flour for baking and trying to eat it asap. I try not to eat mono-sodium glutamate [msg – which is equivalent to rat poison to the human body and prepared foods are full of it – it also goes by other names on food labels], sugar-free products [which chemically are like rat poison to us as well], sugar, caffeine, white rice/flour, and I try to stay away from meat/milk products that are from animals treated with growth hormones/antibiotics. I prefer non-homogenized, low-temperature pasteurized milk [and would drink raw milk like people have for most of creation if I had my own animal that was grass fed] and raw milk cheeses. I try to buy anything that is packaged in glass or bpa free plastic. Basically, I try to eat as close to how ELOHIM created everything as possible, even though I don’t own a piece of land to raise my own food. So much food is being changed today from how it was created that eating non-modified food is getting to be more and more challenging. My health has been improving and I have even had moles dry up and flake off of my body, so yes it is worth the effort.

I believe what Scripture says in regards to those verses above and I wonder how many of you would give the MESSIAH gifts of poor quality/junk food or want to receive these things especially if you were not healthy? I believe other verses that go into how we will have to answer to HIM for all we do and what we say – II Corinthians 5:10 and Mattityahu 12:36-37. Also, our bodies are supposed to be the temple of the SET-APART [HOLY] SPIRIT and Scripture says that we are bought with a price and we are to honor ELOHIM with our bodies – I Corinthians 6:19-20. So everything we do to our and other peoples bodies matters, mind/body/spirit – our whole being, and has consequences. Read Tehillim [Psalm] 38 and 107 – King David made it pretty clear that he knew the illness he was suffering from was the result of his sin!

The piece below is about Leket and is from Wikipedia [other links about them I have posted below too]. See what you can do in your community to stop food from being wasted and instead, get it to the needy [the healthier the food the better]. If you currently help in getting food to poor and needy and see unhealthy things being given, see what you can do  to feed the body of the MESSIAH like it should be feed, like you would hopefully take care of your own body. If you haven’t been taking care of your own body or your children’s bodies like they should be, I encourage you to start now with making some changes. I know and was told about people who had diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure and how they got off of prescription medications and reversed their health through nutritional changes [any health condition can be helped]. Don’t forget, ELOHIM watches over all and knows all. Belief/trust in HIM is key for miracles to happen, read Mark 6:5-6. While HE does miracles and can do and heal anything and bless anything/anyone HE chooses, I wouldn’t like asking HIM for a miracle if my body was filled with cancer because I know cancer is the result of me not doing what HE said to do in the first place. Go to our ABBA [FATHER] in Heaven in prayer and ask HIM for help with what you can be doing to better your life, your families lives, and other people’s lives and ask for HIS SON to open the right doors and close the wrong ones. See if you can get into that place where miracles can occur so that HE can move mountains through you. Be sure and give HIM all the credit too! HE deserves all the glory and it helps keep you humble, trust me!

Leket Israel

Leket Israel, The National Food Bank, is an Israeli charity that distributes surplus food to needy people.

History

Leket Israel, formerly known as Table-to-Table, was founded in 2003 to distribute surplus food that would otherwise be discarded to people in need. Leket Israel, The National Food Bank serves as Israel’s leading food rescue and redistribution network, actively working to alleviate nutritional insecurity in Israel through its many projects. With a task force of volunteers and staff members, gleaned food is transferred to 300 nonprofit partners including soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior centers and other social service organizations around Israel; feeding about 120,000 meals weekly. As an umbrella organization for food agencies nationwide, Leket Israel also offers nutrition education, cooperative purchasing, food safety, and capacity building projects designed to improve professional standards amongst its NPO partners.

Programs

Leket Israel Food Distribution Programs include: Meal Rescue- collects and redistributes approximately 13,000 hot meals and 1,800 loaves of bread per week from over 200 catering halls, restaurants, corporate cafeterias and bakeries; Project Leket (Gleaning)- rescues 154 tons of produce weekly from 450 farmers throughout the country along with Leket Israel’s first farming initiative- cultivating vegetables to better supplement the need for nutritious vegetables. Project Leket was inspired by the Bible, which states: “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.” (Deuteronomy 24:19); The Sandwich for School Kids Project- provides 7,500 volunteer prepared sandwiches daily to disadvantaged school children in over 100 schools throughout Israel; Manufactured Food- Rescuing a weekly average of 22 tons of dairy products, baked, dried and frozen goods from 25 corporate partners (such as Supersol, Angel Bakeries and Tara Dairy) who donate tens of thousands of perishable food items nearing their expiry dates and manufactured goods that were overproduced, packaged incorrectly, or cannot be sold commercially. Leket Israel Projects for Nonprofit Partners include: Purchasing Cooperative for Nonprofits- providing NPO’s savings up to 25% off their food budget; The Nutrition Education Program- through hands-on workshops, Leket Israel’s nutritionist delivers seminars for proper nutrition and tools to maintain a well-balanced diet on a limited budget; Capacity Building for Nonprofits- ensuring Leket Israel’s nonprofit partners adhere to standards such as proper food handling methods via assessment and reports for recommendations.

Ideology

“I think that at a very basic level, it’s a very Jewish value to be appalled by food waste,” says Joseph Gitler, founder and director of Leket Israel .^[1] Some farmers find it unprofitable to harvest all their produce while others cannot pick their entire crop before it begins to rot. In both cases, tens of thousands of tons of fresh fruits and vegetables are wasted each year. Israeli farmers invite Leket Israel to harvest their fields and to give the produce to needy people around the country. More than 40,000 volunteers took part in Project Leket in 2011. In addition, 20 Arab women were employed with full wages and benefits to assist in the picking. Through its activities, Leket Israel promotes the idea of peaceful co-existence. “We had an organization that had 25 employees, all Jewish, and suddenly, we have 20 Israeli-Arab employees, and it’s been a very positive experience,” says Gitler.^[2]

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon allowed Leket Israel volunteers to pick oranges from his 15-dunam orchard in Ramot HaShavim near Kfar Sava. He was approached by the organization after one of its scouts spotted the unharvested fruit. ^[3]

Researchers have found that more than one-third of Israeli children live below the poverty line. ^[4] Many children attend school without eating a nourishing breakfast or bringing lunch from home. In 2006, Hands on Tzedakah, a public charity based in Boca Raton, Florida, approached Leket Israel to create a program to provide school children with a minimum of one healthy meal per day. Leket Israel volunteers prepare and deliver more than 4,500 mid-morning meals to students at 70 schools around Israel. Each school day, the children receive a freshly baked roll filled with hummus, cream cheese, yellow cheese or tuna, and a fresh fruit or vegetable. “This is the kind of program that builds and brings together all segments of the community,” according to Shimon Pepper, executive director of the Rockland County, New York Jewish Federation.^[5]

References

External links

• Leket Israel Official Website
• Hands On Tzedakah Fund

http://www.leket.org.il/english/contact.aspx

http://www.leket.org.il/english/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Y5HpnfBPE

http://www.leket.org.il/english/text/465.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leket_Israel