Why is DVI like a candle, a feather and a wooden spoon?

Dear Friends,

Spring is in the air and Passover and Easter are just around the corner. Spring cleaning is, in fact, a form of spiritual cleansing, and what better way to feel that this task has been completed than to support the charity nearest to your heart?

Passover is a celebration of the Jewish Exodus, when we were freed from slavery in Egypt. Every year we say "Next year in Jerusalem!" but do we consider that present-day Jerusalem is a city suffering from extreme poverty? Isn't extreme poverty a modern form of slavery? We imagine ourselves walking in the footsteps of our ancestors in Egypt, but can we imagine ourselves working for $1,000 a month and struggling to feed 6 kids or more in modern day Jerusalem? To prepare for Passover, we clean out our homes and to be certain we were thorough, we check the corners with a candle, a feather and a wooden spoon. But when it comes to spiritual cleansing, what is your candle, your feather, your wooden spoon?

Easter is a celebration of Jesus' resurrection, the holiest holiday in the Christian calendar. Remember that Jesus welcomed the little children when he said "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (NIV) Matthew 19:14. How can we imagine ourselves embracing the suffering children in modern day Jerusalem?

As you know, DVI is a truly free clinic and run on a shoe-string. DVI treated 3,579 children in 2010, more than ever before. Our patients are referred by the welfare services and from a variety of shelters, which house children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or other reasons. Every year, new children's shelters approach DVI, requesting dental care and instruction for their kids. Whatever else has gone wrong in their young lives, they walk out our doors pain-free with healthy smiles. The kind, caring, quality treatment these children receive at DVI gives them a real chance to break out of the cycle of poverty.

But the need and the demand for our services are growing. Help us keep our doors open 5 days a week and not send any child away.

Help DVI and Sponsor a Child!

• $180 will sponsor one child
• $360 will sponsor two children
• $1,800 will sponsor ten children
• Or any other amount you wish to donate.

This support will be used to sponsor preventative oral health education and dental treatment. You can provide a Jerusalem child with his/her first toothbrush, oral health education, relief from pain and suffering - and a healthier lifestyle and a real chance at academic success! Let us make a better day for Jerusalem, together.

• The easiest way is to contribute directly through DVI's PayPal account.
• Alternately, donations can be made to the American Friends here, or by checks payable to DVI and posted to DVI, 29 Mekor Chaim St, Jerusalem 93465 Israel. For US taxpayers, please send checks to American Friends of DVI, c/o Dr. Robert Lipner, 12 East 41st St Suite 1100, New York, NY 10017.
• Canadian taxpayers can send checks to the Canadian Friends of DVI care of Dr. Stanley Jacobson, 428 Melrose Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5M 1Z9.

On behalf of everyone here at DVI - Happy Holidays!

Michelle Levine
Director of Development and International Relations