Haverim: Distributing free medication in Israel

At Haverim L'Refuah we share a goal for 'Tikun Olam'; to improve and repair our world.

Our mission is to ensure that every person in Israel receives the medicines they need, regardless of their economic situation, so that nobody will ever again need to choose between medicine or food.

A couple of months ago we were able to fulfill our goal and share our mission beyond Israel: We received the following WhatsApp message:

"I am writing on behalf of a 4-year old boy with Addison's disease. He's in the Ukraine and the sole supplier of his medicine is unable to get the life-saving medicine to him. Can you help?"

We quickly activated the community and found the medicine he needs, Astonin, within hours. Now the biggest challenge we faced was getting the medicine from Israel to war-torn Ukraine. We cast our net... and found a volunteer from a sister non-profit organization who was preparing to fly to Ukraine.

Within hours, the medicine reached the boy.

When you support Haverim L'Refuah - you support over 7,000 people a month, who like this boy, urgently need life-saving medicine they cannot afford. With your donation, nobody will ever again need to choose between medicine or food.

Our goal for 2023 is to provide more free medicine to more people!

We currently have over 2,000 people on our waiting list. We have the medicines for them, but lack the resources to provide them with a regular, monthly supply. This past year we experienced a sharp rise in the requests for free medicine. The war in the Ukraine has led to an influx of tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian refugees to Israel, many of whom are in need of urgent medicines. In addition, the rising inflation and cost of living has driven even more people into a financial situation that requires our support.

Thank you for your support.

The Mobile Free Pharmacy's mission is to provide even more people all over Israel with free, life-saving medication.

Our success during the last 18 years in building, maintaining and growing the Free Pharmacy project has served our community well: We provide today free medicine to over 7,000 patients a month.

However, our Free Pharmacy is limited geographically and is unable to reach patients in need of urgent medicine in a timely manner. We are also subject to the demands, prices and delays of external delivery companies, which both increase our costs and delays the delivery of the medicine.

Your support will enable the vans to deliver life-saving, urgent and refrigerated medicines directly to the patients.

The van is custom-built to meet the strict criteria of the Ministry of Health, regarding pharmaceutical transport, refrigeration and storage. From the cooler boxes outfitted with GPS systems for constant monitoring, to the mobile app used by the volunteers, we have found the most competitive solutions in Israel and abroad to make sure the patients can rely on us for their medicine.

Every package we deliver means one more family no longer must choose between medicine and food.

Every donation counts! We thank you for your ongoing support and for the work you do to help save lives in Israel.

As war broke out in February 2022, Haverim was immediately contacted by Jews in Ukraine with requests for urgent medicines.

As of April 2022, we flew out numerous containers containing tons of medicine and medical supplies directly to organizations in Ukraine. The first to receive a dedicate shipment was a Jewish orphanage in Odessa, which required chronic/daily medicines for the children as well as first aid. We are now providing support for field hospitals on the Polish border.

In parallel, as Israel opens its doors to over 10,000 refugees from Ukraine, Haverim was requested to supply the refugees with urgent medicines for chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and more.

With efficiency in mind, we sent only one representative from our organization, Mr. Itzik Lebel, who joined forces with non-profits on site to coordinate the efforts.

The medical supplies sent were quickly collected or acquired at cost from partnering pharmaceutical companies.

We thank all our supporters who quickly donating to the cause!

We continue to service both the refugees in Israel and the field hospital and individuals in Ukraine - your donations enable us to immediately respond with aid. Thank you.

During this last year, nearly 8,000 people a month received free medicines every month from Haverim L'Refuah: Friends for Health.

This year - help us break a record and reach 10,000!

As the pandemic hit, more and more people immediately appealed to us for help. We were their last chance to avoid choosing between medicine - and food.

As winter began and the economy faltered, a growing number of people found themselves out of a job or fourloughed and once again we began receiving a growing number of calls for help.

We need your help!

Your support goes directly towards the distribution of the packages of free medicines to those most in need. Our Bikes2Meds are dispatched for urgent pick up and delivery, and for medicines that are either very expensive or in need of refregeration. And over 1,000 volunteers help gather, sort and distribute them to the patients.

In 2022 we aim to stretch our resources and help even more. We already have a waiting list of 2,500 people we're unable to help because of lack of budget.

Every donation helps.

May you always be and feel on the side of the giving.

Links:

• See a short animation of how it all works!

Friends for Health: Ensuring that every person in Israel receives the medicines they need, regardless of their economic situation, so that nobody no longer need choose between medicine – and food ever again.

This past year has seen a steep rise in requests for free medicine from people of all ages, throughout the country.

Just this last month, we helped 20-year old Bogdan find medicines worth over $35,000 for his life-threatening aplastic anemia, and 3-year old Paulina with medicine for her neuroblastoma-type cancer.

Over 7,000 people received free medicines from us last month, and the requests keep coming in.

At the moment, we have nearly 2,500 requests we cannot respond to due to lack of resources. We have the medicines in the Free Pharmacy, but we lack the personnel to fulfill the prescriptions and to deliver the medicines to the patients.

These are people who must choose every month between medicine and food. By providing them with a monthly supply of medicine, we ensure their health, their wellbeing and sometimes their lives.

Please support us today - every donation counts!

See their stories on our Instagram: #haverim_lerefua
and on Facebook page.

See an animation of what we do, and a short video here.