2010 not only brings in a new year but also a new decade.  It is a time in which most of us make New Year's resolutions and think about how we can make ourselves better, wheatear that be losing weight or spending more time with family, or trying to give back to our communities.  Here at Project Elijah Foundation we too are looking to see how we can improve from last year.  We had an amazing year, packing over 350,000 meals -- an increase of over 300% in just one year.  At the same time, however, when we read the latest poverty statistics we realize how far we have yet to go.

For these reasons, Project Elijah Foundation, having seen the extent of poverty here in the United States has now decided to put Elijah's Kosher Manna into the general population, not just Jewish food banks and food pantries.  We will of course still continue to provide food to these Jewish intutions' but the needs here in the United States are simple to immense to ignore.  Over 37 million people in the United States lived in poverty in 2007, and that is an increase of almost 6 million since 2000.  9.9% of all Iowans live in prverty.  We also know that most families that live in poverty have a least one member that works full-time.  Add this to the unemployment rate and you start to see the extent of this problem.  Perhaps the saddest statistic is that children in the U.S. have the highest pverty rate of all age groups.  Children cannot learn, grow properly, or become the next leaders of our society if they can't meet the basic needs of everyday life.  This is why we feel so strongly about keeping the majority of Elijah's Kosher Manna here in the United States.  Of course the recent events in Haiti are tragic.  We too will do our part to help the Haitian people but our focus will remain here in the United States.

Knowing the vast amount of work ahead of us, I am excited to tell you that we are working on creating a satellite facility in Washington D.C. this year, and will probably be able to create a satellite facility in L.A. within 18 to 24 months.  This will really allow Project Elijah Foundation to help the most amount of people in the most cost effective manner.  As we are indeed growing, I am also pleased to annouce the addition of Jeri Mace as a grant writer for the foundation.  We fee confident that her skills will alllow us to find the financial support needed to expand in these new areas.  We are looking forward to a great partnership.

As always if you are interested in volunteering or in helping to organize a packing here in Des Moines or somewhere else, please contact me at the foundation.  Blessings t all of you, and I hope we all have a great year.

Julie

Julie Kaufman
Executive Director
Project Elijah Foundation
515-246-8001
www.projectelijahfoundation.org