American NBA Team Joins With Israeli Charity to Stop Hunger in the Holy Land

November 12, 2015

3 min read

Leket Israel, a famous Israeli charity organization which repurposes leftover and wasted food by collecting it and giving it to the country’s poor, is teaming up with the Cleveland Cavaliers and crowdfunding site CauseMatch to create a new initiative to provide sustenance to those who need it most in Israel.

A well-established non-profit which works with thousands of volunteers each year, Leket Israel “rescues” unused food which would otherwise go to waste from farms, hotels, military bases, and wedding halls and distributes it among Israel’s hungry. Their newest fundraising drive offers five pairs of VIP tickets to a Cavalier’s basketball game, a personal meeting with American-Israeli Cavaliers Head Coach David Blatt, access to the Court Club and an invitation to attend both the pre-game warmup and the post-game press conference.

The campaign aims to raise $100,000 in order to feed 100,000 people with 1,000,000 pounds of “rescued” food. The proceeds support two main Leket Israel projects. The first is the rescue of unharvested produce in fields around Israel and the transfer of this produce to the needy in Israel. The organization rescues close to 30 million pounds of produce per year. These perfectly edible fruits and vegetables would otherwise be destroyed by farmers.

The second project involves rescuing over two million leftover hot meals annually, which would otherwise be thrown out, from wedding halls, hotels and army bases.

According to Paul Leiba, the Director of Development for Leket Israel, “Israel does not suffer from hunger to the level of people dying in the streets, [but] there are people who suffer from malnutrition. Israel’s needy suffer from poor diets due to a lack of food,  which in turn causes such issues as obesity, diabetes and heart disease. We are here to help provide wholesome food to those who need it most and otherwise can’t afford it.”

Leket Israel is very excited about the new campaign, Leiba added. “This new fundraising project is a tremendous partnership that shows a lot of heart on the part of the Cavs who are willing to support this tremendous cause,” he told Breaking Israel News. “The Cavaliers have been very helpful, gracious and generous with organizing the event, and have been incredible hosts.”

The Cavaliers are no slouches in the NBA. Blatt, a former IDF soldier, led the team to the NBA championship last season, though they lost four games to two to the Golden State Warriors.  

Blatt has been very pro-Israel during his career, having played for and coached numerous Israeli teams. Last season was his rookie season in the NBA.

Leket Israel’s new campaign offers a unique chance to their donors, said Leiba. “Some of our smaller donors may never have an opportunity to see a professional team like this again, and especially at the VIP level,” he said.

“People on a budget simply can’t get access like this,” he added. “You don’t always get to see how a professional sports team works from the inside, and this is a great opportunity for people in North America, to on top of everything else support a great organization in Israel.” 

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The Causematch campaign for Leket offers five pairs of VIP packages to see the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The raffle starts with a minimum donation of $25 and continues on a rising scale. For example, while a $25 donation buys 25 entries into the raffle, a $100 donation buys 125 entries. The more a person donates, the more raffle entries they receive, and the more they support the fight against hunger in Israel. For out-of-towners, the VIP tickets include travel vouchers and accommodations at a hotel near the basketball arena.

“We are grateful to [the team] for the help that they have shown us,” Leiba said. “We are here to do good for the environment, the people of Israel. We are very happy that a world-class team such as the Cavs are generous enough to help us out with this project.”

Indeed, the Cavaliers are going out of their way to accommodate potential raffle winners. The team is prepared to organize kosher food for the donors should it be necessary by making sure that a kosher concessions vendor will be in the arena on the night of the game.

The other partnering organization, CauseMatch, has organized an anonymous donor who is matching every donation to help Leket Israel dollar for dollar.

The raffle ends on November 19th, and the drawing will take place on November 20th.

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