"Bless Israel" Fund Transforms Israel's Future!

0:00 Hello, everyone. I'm Stephen Strang, and welcome to this special edition of the Strang Report podcast, giving you an update on what's happening in Israel with money that our viewers and listeners have contributed to our Bless Israel Fund through Christian Life Missions, our nonprofit partner. And we have a history of raising money for Israel going back many years. I've been a supporter of Israel personally my whole adult life. But certainly in the 90s and early 2000s, we've raised a lot of money over the years. And I found these mementos on my wall. This is from the American Friends of McGendivid Adom. I hope I said that right.

0:52 That's Hebrew for the Red Star of David. And we raised, as I recall, about $125,000 for an ambulance. And they gave me this very nice plaque. We did this in 2005. And we told them that every penny would go to them. So we raised money for the ambulance. And then we got like $40,000 more that trickled in. So we went ahead and sent it to them. And they, I guess they bought another ambulance with other donors they had. And the following year, there was a second Lebanese war. You may remember that. And there was a lot of bombing and destruction in the northern part of Israel. And through Barry Siegel and Vision for Israel, we raised – I'm going from memory, somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000. And we raised it very, very quickly. And these people sent me this very nice plaque in Hebrew saying thank you.

1:50 Only time I've ever gotten a citation like that in Hebrew. And then here we're doing it again. When October 7th happened and the terrorist group Hamas viciously attacked Israel and killed more Jewish people in one day than any time since the Holocaust. It was just horrible. So we reached out very, very quickly to several ministries that we knew and said, how can we help? And today we're going to get an update from these ministries. And they're ministries that I've known a long time. I'll start with Sue Perlman and Jews for Jesus, who is a well-known organization, of course. I knew the founder, Moish Rosen. I knew him personally. He was a great man, a great visionary. And I'm a personal supporter of Sue Perlman and have for many years. And a couple of years ago, I found out in conversation that the Jews for Jesus headquarters in Tel Aviv had no bomb shelter. And Christian Life Missions actually had a Bless Israel fund. We had amassed a small sum, $20,000 or $30,000 as I recall.

3:04 And we were able to help them. It covered most of the cost, I guess, of constructing a bomb shelter. And when the war started, they actually sent us pictures of people that were able to run there for shelter. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. So we had this history. Barry Segal, as I mentioned, Vision for Israel, we helped them with the Second Lebanese War. And more recently, I've gotten to know some of the leadership in the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America who have a Joseph project. And I knew they were set up doing good works. And so what we did was you basically took the money that came in and sort of divided it. And the war is continuing. In fact, it's gone not only from the battlefield, but the war in public opinion in the media, which I hope we talk about. But I felt it was important to get an update. Because right at the end of the year, we're trying to raise more money.

4:03 We've raised about $135,000, as I recall. And we have a goal of 200,000. And we need a lot of people to give $5, $10, $25 would be a huge contribution. And I want you to hear how your money is being used. Because Christian Life Missions, and what we do at Charisma is kind of our nonprofit arm, it is 100% charitable, 100% ministry oriented, and it's really kind of crowd funder in a way that goes back many, many years with raising money. And there are a lot of other ministries and other crowd funders, but we're doing what we can with the platform we have and the influence we have to meet needs. And we usually look for needs that nobody else is helping or maybe ministries where the contributions we get really, really makes a difference. So let's get an update on what's happening. I just wanted to give that background. And, you know, in case you don't watch it all the way to the end, I wanted you to know that we need you to go to christianlifemissions.org. That's our website. It's christianlifemissions.org. And all this information will be there. We're going to be emailing, doing all this kind of stuff. But this was so important to me personally that I've dipped into my own pocket to give because I felt that the Lord wanted

5:36 me to. And I know that the Lord is speaking to people who have a heart to help Israel and maybe don't know which ministry to trust. You can trust us. We have a long history, no controversy. We've been able to do a lot of good because we could do more together than we can do individually. So let me start with Sue Perlman, Jews for Jesus, who is joining us from San Francisco. Thank you for getting up early to be on the podcast today and just give us an update on what is happening and your viewpoint as you see it through the eyes of the ministry of Jews for Jesus. Thank you, Steve. And thank you, supporters that are listening in. What you have given and what you might give as the end of the year approaches really makes a big difference. Jews for Jesus is the largest missionary agency in Israel today. We have over 50 full-time missionaries preaching the gospel. And Israel is a tough place. But in a sense, what has happened since October 7th has opened up hearts in a way that we've never seen before. People who would not talk to us before are requesting New Testaments.

7:00 Your money has helped us to get those New Testaments into their hands. People are coming out and saying, how can we help? This is amazing to me. We have over a thousand volunteers a day, Steve, who are taking part in this effort with us. And more than half of them are unbelievers. And what was it that you did? I know that you are real good about sending information and I remember a picture, maybe we can find it, of a whole bunch of bags that were ready to be distributed. Apparently, it had food, stuffs and other things that people needed. Yes, we put together these grocery boxes, bags with the L'Recha stamp on them, which is our ministry name in places in Israel, Help Your Neighbor. And for $50, people could take one of these boxes and feed a whole family for a week. And there are so many displaced Israelis and Palestinians in Israel right now that we're able to get those boxes into people's hands. Over 3,000 boxes, one by one, delivered to people in the South, people at the hotels. We're actually working with a hotel in Jerusalem that is housing all these displaced people and we're running the children's program. So all these Israeli

8:30 children are getting care from ministry people. We are going out with trucks on the weekend and doing barbecues at different units in the IDF. These are like very personal one-on-one things. We've got coffee trucks going out to the IDF soldiers. They're just being told we care and Christians care. And as we've talked to Israelis on the street about the fact that there are Christians here in the United States that love them and care for them, they're brought to tears because they see a lot of what's in the public media that is so hateful, not just to Israelis, but to the Jewish people as a whole. And we can make a difference as believers that what we have to bring is our substance financially, our prayers as well, and our continual care for Jewish people in the midst of a horrific, horrific war.

9:40 Well that's very exciting and we do need to show the love of Jesus in an unselfish way, which you're doing. I remember when we did the ambulance, the organization asked me, you know, did they want Christian life missions on the side? Did they want charisma on the side? I said no, just put from Christian friends in the United States. I wanted them to know that there were Christian friends who loved them and, you know, it wasn't about branding or anything else. Most of what we raise for different ministries is one time, but I encourage people to either give through Christian life missions, help us hit that goal of 200,000, or to give directly to Jews for Jesus, especially if you have a heart to continue to give on an ongoing basis. So Sue, tell people your website and how people could support you personally or support Jews for Jesus.

10:39 It's a very easy website to remember. It's the words, Jews for Jesus, altogether.org, Jews for Jesus.org. If you go on that site, you'll be brought to some information about what's happening in Israel, but what's happening around the world and reaching people. You know, we're fighting a war on two fronts right now. We have Israel and we have Ukraine and we have missionaries in both places that are proclaiming the gospel in a very difficult environment. But the war is bad for Israel, but it is also good for the gospel. A strange combination.

11:24 Well, it seems that when things are really difficult, that's when people call out to God. And so that's a good report. Thank you. And as I said earlier, I personally support Jews for Jesus because I believe in what they're doing. So let's move to the Joseph Project. You know, I didn't ask you ahead of time. We're going to talk to Hank Rich, who is over the Joseph Project, and I'm assuming that it's after Joseph in the book of Genesis, isn't it? It helps store up things. I know that you have a couple of semi trucks and you distribute, you have quite a network that you distribute to before October 7th. And just bring us up to date on what's happening now.

12:17 Yeah, my pleasure. And again, to Charisma Steve, we want to thank you also for your generous gift. We, unlike Jews for Jesus, we are primarily a humanitarian aid organization. We're an Israeli nonprofit set up in Israel about 23 years ago. And we operate a very large warehouse in Bet Shemesh, probably about 20 miles from Jerusalem, 30 miles from Tel Aviv. And we've been distributing humanitarian aid throughout Israel for 23 years. So when this horrific incident happened on October 7th, we were there. Someone mentioned to us, you know, that warehouse was built, that fleet of trucks was there, that warehouse was filled with humanitarian aid for just a time as this. Unfortunately, October 7th, as you said, was probably the single worst day in the history of Israel. Probably in the history of Israel.

13:33 I mean, the Holocaust happened prior to the formation of the state of Israel. But since October 7th, we have distributed over 415 truckloads of humanitarian aid all throughout Israel to about 115 distribution points. Millions of dollars of aid has gone out already. And you spoke earlier about the money that you have given. We have a budget every year. And that budget did not include October 7th. We were out every day with our trucks, distributing to other NGOs, governmental organizations, messianic congregations, churches, doing our everyday distribution. So all of the money that has come in from October 7th has really enabled us to really just do more than we ever have in the past in any 10 week period.

14:37 We have distributed thousands and thousands of boxes of groceries. We have distributed, I don't even know how many, hundreds and hundreds of pounds of clothing, brand new clothing, bedding, field mattresses for soldiers. We work with Samaritan's Purse. We're Samaritan's Purse importer of record in Israel for the last six, seven years, distributing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of, I think you may be familiar with Operation Christmas Child. Yes, of course. Well, they chose the Joseph Project to be their importer of record. We warehouse and distribute. And during this conflict, we were able to distribute, I don't even know how many thousands of toys to bomb shelters all throughout Israel. We also work with hospitals in Israel, supplying medical aid, medical supplies. Most recently, we have a container on route with specially designed wheelchairs. So we are really in the humanitarian aid business. That's what we do. We receive aid from all corners of the world, from wonderful believers in Asia, Europe, and America. And we also have a domestic program, Steve, in which we partner with over 100 Israeli corporations that donate humanitarian aid in through the

16:13 Joseph Project. I was approached in 2018 by a gentleman who was one of the managers of the National Food Bank, an organization called Leket. And he came to me and he said, Hank, you are missing a big opportunity in Israel. We understand from our work, and we had worked with Leket, that you import humanitarian aid from around the world. He told me that there are many, many companies in Israel that would love to give to the work of supplying to those in need. But he said there's no single address in Israel where these companies can give.

16:57 It'll be warehoused, it'll be distributed. And really got to what I think I spent most of my life in business to one of the most difficult parts in any business is that last mile. And we brought him on as a consultant. He now works full time. And since 2018, he has built relationships with over 100 Israeli corporations that are now donating humanitarian aid. So we import from around the world. We receive a lot of aid from within Israel. We have a warehouse, and we have six trucks on the road right now. And those trucks were made possible by donors like yourself. So it's a very difficult situation. We worked, and probably in tandem with Sue, with J4J over at the Baptist Village, where a lot of ministries collaborated together. What happened on October 7th, Steve, was well beyond what any single ministry could handle. So we worked in tandem with J4J, with Firm, with Barry, Leklecha Nativa, and formed what we call the Emergency Village, but it was actually the Baptist Village. And a lot of aid went in there, and we had volunteers from all over the world come and package and help distribute. We opened up our warehouse to everyone, not

18:33 just our trucks. We had people coming in with cars, with vans, with pickup trucks. We have film of all different organizations coming into our facility. So all of this was made possible by people like yourself, Steve, because our budget did not plan. No one planned for October 7th. So it's all the additional funds that came in that enabled us to make these distributions. And we're probably on the road doing five to 10 a day. So we're up over 400 truckloads, as I said, about 115 distribution points. We also help relocate two schools that were in the Gaza envelope with our trucks, completely relocate schools into a safe area.

19:23 So we are a humanitarian aid organization. That's what we were set up to do for such a time as this. People asked me just this past week or so, what is the number one need today? And right now, the number one need is warm clothing. As Sue mentioned, so many thousands, really hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from the south and the north. And a lot of them left with nothing. So we're now getting into the colder months. We're doing a winter clothing drive. And we're trying to raise as much money as we can for warm jackets, sweaters, long underwear, heavy socks, and shoes for people that were driven out of their homes with nothing. The need for food continues. We just did an event with Public Health Association, where we distributed in one day 1,100 boxes of food. And we have a food program that's a little bit different than some others. It was developed by a nutritionist.

20:33 It's a healthy food program where all the ingredients in these boxes are healthy. And we also then do workshops around Israel to teach people how to use healthy ingredients. If you don't understand how to use them, a lot of people, oh, they're too expensive. Where do I get them? It's very simple. So we're not only giving out food, but we're teaching. We're giving recipes on how to utilize the food. So it's like instead of just giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day, you're teaching them to fish in a manner of speaking. And I'm aware of the ministry and the humanitarian nature and the infrastructure that you had, which is very important. You know, what you describe is a lot like convoy of hope in this country, Operation Blessing, some of those ministries, and you've got to have an infrastructure.

21:28 And while there's no need to get into the politics, you know, there are parts of the Israeli government that make it difficult for believers in Yeshua to operate. There are some who would like to make it illegal. And so even getting things across the border, and you mentioned that Franklin Graham and so forth, you know, there's a lot of hoops that you have to jump through just to get something across the border. And if you're able to help other ministries, I mean, that is an enormous benefit, you know, in lots and lots of ways. So I tip my hat to you.

22:09 One thing I would like to say, Steve, we just brought in three containers in the last week from convoy of hope just arrived in our warehouse within the past week. That's one of the things that we didn't realize it in the beginning. But after 23 years of importing humanitarian aid, we can say and agree it is difficult. And more and more ministries. Look, I was very surprised, Steve, when Samaritan's Purse called us. Let's be honest, we're not a Samaritan's Purse. They are one of the largest humanitarian aid organizations on earth. And they were calling the Joseph project because they wanted to start bringing in toys for children about seven years ago. convoy of hope, as I said, just sent three, we've we've acted also besides ourselves, we've acted as a logistics organization for ministries, who not because of ignorance, but just don't know how difficult it can be to import into Israel. It's not easy. So there are many facets of the Joseph project facets. And we thank you, because your additional money has really helped us and helped so many so many people within Israel, through our

23:41 organization through Jews for Jesus, and many others. Look, Barry Siegel and I play golf together. And we're very good friends. When Barry was opening up his millennial center, like most construction efforts, things, more money took a long time and we stored a lot of all of Barry's product in our warehouse for months while he was getting ready to open up that beautiful center and Maudine. I've been there many times. I remember when he first put the shovel in the ground, it was nothing but dirt. And then here 10 plus years later, you know, it's so we're all friends. October 7 has brought us all together, much closer, I think, as ministries than we ever have before. And we want to continue to partner with you in the time we have left. I want to give each of you the last word for the Joseph project in Jews for Jesus. Give a last word and tell people how they can support you directly if they like to. Or of course, they can give through christianlifemissions.org as well. Well, ours is ours like Susan's is very simple. It's josephproject.org one word josephproject.org and that is our website.

25:06 And that's the way you can support us. And they can of course find out more on your website about specific things that you're doing. And we'll be on there. There's lots of video testimonies. So yeah, that that would be the best place to go for us. Great. And Sue? I want your viewers to know that we are working with 1000 volunteers a day, half of whom are not believers, to get care packages out to share what we as believers can give to minister to, whether it's to displace people or the IDF soldiers that we're working with. And your help makes that possible. We're so grateful to God for you. I mentioned to Steve earlier, personally, but I wanted to tell you all a survey that recently came out asking Christians what influenced them the most about what's happening in Israel. They responded by saying 44% said it was the media, what they're hearing in the media. Only 17% said the Bible. I know you are all Bible believing Christians and that you love the Lord. And if you love what he says in his word about Israel, you don't have to question all this,

26:41 some of this craziness that's going on in the media today. You need to just take your heart and give to what God is doing to uphold his people, the Jewish people, and those Palestinians that are also victims in many ways of what's going on. Pray for them all, but pray also with your wallet. Give to make this happen in Israel today. We need that. That's a very interesting way. Pray with your wallet. Well, I'm back with Barry Siegel, who I've known a long, long time with Vision for Israel, and we've worked together in lots of ways. And this is the very nice plaque that he gave when we worked with him in 2007 with the Second Lebanese War. We were able to respond immediately with some donations. And I actually have the English on the back, so I know what it says.

27:42 And so when this happened on October 7th, I knew to reach out to Barry immediately because I know that you have so much credibility and actually your ministry has grown a great deal. So with the money that we sent, how did, how are you able to use it to really impact people? Well, we find through the work of Vision for Israel and working together with you all, it's so critical that we're face to face with the recipients and that we're able to meet their needs in a tailor-made way. Because it's useless to just dump things on a street corner. It's more effective and impactful in the lives of people if we can provide exactly what they need to the best of our ability and to the provisions that we have. And so we've been doing a lot for soldiers, for medics and first responders in the field, for paramedics, of course, also for individual welfare recipients.

28:42 But now that has exploded in this country because many of the families that are in need above and beyond those who are already in need and on our recipient roster are all the displaced Israeli families. And so we're reaching out to them in a very modeled fashion. We've supplied, I'm just looking to my list a little bit here, already 200 winter duvet blankets, 300 medical bag kits for first responders and paramedics. Those alone cost hundreds of dollars of each. We've provided both protective vests and helmets, both for the first responders and medics, but also for civilian security where it was so lacking before. We've had to provide even two-way Motorola radios for some of the kibbutzim along the northern border and 500 plus, beyond that, winter jackets and fleece jackets for soldiers, reservists, as well as security patrols, especially in the north, which has been getting bombarded by rockets from Hezbollah. Above and beyond that, we're providing bath towels, hand and face towels, a thousand large food parcels, and we just reordered another 600.

30:09 And so we're also giving, especially now, financial vouchers. As some areas are simmering down, the needs are much greater for practical things such as food, new clothing, diapers, especially. We just received a donation of 68,000 diapers which we're distributing, and I think it's something like three to five thousand pairs of winter socks. Some people have also sent us hand-knit, you know, head coverings for ladies in the winter, and we've also provided several sets of earphones and children's iPads for educational purposes for displaced children who are now attending other schools until they can return either to the southern or northern communities. And this list goes on and on and on, and the financial vouchers are critical now because, of course, we're in the winter months and people need to go out and buy food, and it's a practical need for both the displaced families as well as the welfare recipients because they just released an article that Israel is the highest or one of the highest in the OECD, the European Extended Countries, with poverty. So we're suffering from a great deal of poverty here in the country.

31:37 It's hard for people to understand that, but it is real when you see the homes and the families in need at this point. These are just some of the areas we're reaching out to besides and above and beyond the bomb safety shelters and ambulances. We've now got seven ambulances, which are now been donated by us, and three ATV vehicles for fire and rescue needs in the Judean Samarian Hills where there's been a lot of terrorist activity but less known in the news. And we're so thankful to all of you. I mean, it couldn't happen without partners, you know, in Christian Life's missions partnering with us as well as others that just have a burden on their hearts to come alongside of Israel in these days. Well, thank you for what you do. I've been over there and actually seen your facilities, seen some of the things that we helped with before, and you have such credibility and you had the infrastructure where we were able to respond.

32:40 We do encourage people, especially toward the end of the year, when a third of all charitable donations are made in December, to give to christianlifemissions.org, Christian Life Missions as if it's one word and then.org. But we also want to just connect people to the Christian Life Missions. We also want to just connect people with your ministry. And most of our donors are one-time donors for whatever we're raising money for, but yours is a ministry that is worthy of support on an ongoing basis. So tell people how they can respond directly, how they can find out more about your ministry. Well, there's a few ways, obviously, to connect with our ministry and thank you for that invitation. We have a website which is www.visionforisrael.com.

33:43 And also we have a Facebook page, Vision for Israel. People can go online to our website and they can donate directly and it will list a few different areas of giving or just general and they can also sign up and give on a monthly basis as well. We have a toll-free number as well, which people can call at 1-866-351-0075. That's 1-866-351-0075. And I wanted to mention our YouTube page also shows visibly some of the work inside of the base of Vision for Israel, which is held in the Millennium Center, our central logistics center right in the heart of the country. And we have a YouTube site, Vision for Israel, and also update on the news, VFI News. But one thing I wanted to share, Steve, that so impressed me all these years. I feel like the last 30 years was almost a training session. All the years we've been doing this work in humanitarian aid, I felt like we've been training for such a time as this. And I was saying for years the quote, when crisis comes, it's too late to prepare. And I feel like we were prepared for this time. And I'm just so happy that the Holy Spirit was leading all of us. And even as far back

35:20 as the war with Hezbollah, that previous war where you came alongside and partnered with us to rebuild the community center back in, well, the war was in 2006, and I believe the building of the center was in 2007. And how we were able to partner together, these were just ways to link together and see what God was going to prepare us all for. So we're extremely grateful to you and to Christian Life Missions and to all your donors and partners and all of our partners. And this isn't going to stop. I believe that we're in very prophetic end times, and it's going to take a lot more working together, linking together, and seeing the future together according to what's written in biblical prophecy. The Bible says that where your treasure is there, your heart is also.

36:13 And we can't just talk. We have to act. The book of James tells us that. So thank you for watching. Please forward this or put it on social media, the link on social media, especially for people that you know who have a heart for Israel. And if you don't subscribe to the Strang Report, be sure to do so and smack that little bell so that you're notified when we're on live every Tuesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Thanks again for watching and until next time, God bless you.