Ask any 13-year-old what he plans to do with his Bar Mitzva money, and you’re likely to get a quite a list, with a price tag ten times the amount the boy actually received.

But matza probably doesn’t rank high on said list, right?

For the young boy who called us, it was the only thing on his. He had used his Bar Mitzva money to buy matza for his family the year before, but this year, though he tried saving up, it wasn’t enough. The fourteen-year old’s father was ashamed to call, so the boy contacted us instead, asking us to send his family some matzos.

This boy’s grateful family is among 3,500 from all across Eretz Yisrael who were overjoyed to receive their Pesach package this week. Nine boxes and sacks full of fresh, high-quality Pesach products were delivered to their front door, looking as if it came from the supermarket.

The packages did not get there on their own, of course. R’ Yakov Eliezer Shisha, the director of Tov V’Chesed, has been planning and working hard since early February to make this happen. The work climaxed this week as trucks operated round the clock to get loaded up in one of our two distribution centers and set out to deliver the packages to families across 35 neighborhoods including Yerushalayim, Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, Beitar, Kiryat Sefer, Brachfeld, Tzfas, Tiveria and beyond. Each package contains everything a family needs for Yom Tov – 46 products in all.

The credit for this amazing accomplishment goes to donors from all over the world who opened up their hearts and gave whatever they could to relieve the poverty that families in Eretz Yisrael are suffering from.

Steep prices on imported fruits and vegetables because of shmitta was a challenge, as was the steep mountain of applications from people who just cannot afford shmittah-priced produce. But aforementioned awesome donors came through once again!

By Rosh Chodesh Nissan, all the non-perishable Pesach products had been delivered to our headquarters in Yerushalayim. And then, a crew of 52 remarkable volunteers and employees pulled off an amazing feat. They packed all the non-perishable Pesach goods for over 3,500 families in just eight hours! It is fascinating to watch a replay of the security cameras at tovvchesed.com and see 35 boxes being packed per 5 minutes.

Our manager, Hillel Friedman, spent hours carefully planning and setting up the warehouse in a way that increased efficiency to this astounding level. These boxes of non-perishable goods are just one of the nine packages each family received.

The stacks of packed boxes were then divided and set up in two distribution centers. One was on the closed-off street in front of the warehouse, from where most of the delivery routes set out to the areas around Yerushalayim. The second one was set up further north, near Beit Shemesh, to facilitate faster, fresher delivery to our families in Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh and Beitar.

Meanwhile, there is still a lot of activity in the conference room, too. New requests for help continue to pour in, and a board of Rabbanim are sorting through the applications. In addition to the 3,500 families that we are already committed to, we would like to take in another 600 families that really need our help.

We need your help to do so.

Please send your kimcah d’pischa now at www.tovvchesed.com. The money you send will be distributed as coupons that your recipients can redeem at their local supermarkets.

From past experience, we know that people will still be looking for relief as late as Erev Pesach afternoon. Each request is a desperate cry for help that we can’t ignore.

Can you?

Make a difference! Send your Pesach package now.

Donations could be made via mail: PO box 855, Monsey, NY 10952, via phone: 845-517-0656, or by visiting www.tovvchesed.com