We at Christ Church are launching the ECERI project – Ethiopian Community Economic Relief Initiative – which will be a long-term partnership between our Mercy Fund and the Ethiopian community in Israel. Recent studies show the Ethiopian community is the most impoverished sector of Israeli society. They face racial and religious discrimination, struggle to learn the language, and understandably find it difficult to integrate into Israeli society. Sadly, the same government, which brings them to Israel does struggle to find the right ways to help this community.

Our multi-staged ECERI project is designed to provide immediate help by supporting unemployed families with food and more. During this holiday season, we were able to provide 40 families with the base ingredients for 30 meals.

In the future, the project will be arranging Hebrew lessons, computer training, and assistance in the job market. We will work in cooperation with government social services and other Israeli NGOs assisting this beleaguered community.

To find out more, please contact: mercyfund@cmj-israel.org

If you would like to be a partner sponsor of the ECERI project, please donate to the Mercy Fund and write “Ethiopian Relief” in the note. Todah!