The Jerusalem Post - The Jerusalem Post Magazine
Repairing homes, rebuilding lives
‘You can see the stress, the helplessness and the crying when these families reach out for help. But they are so grateful when we make the repairs’
Amid the pandemic, a low-income family from Ashkelon, including an older grandmother, two single daughters – one with a history of mental illness and her nineyear-old son – have all been living under one roof in an apartment with a bathroom in desperate need of repair.
With the shower no longer functioning, the family had been bathing without any hot water, using a makeshift pipe sticking out of the wall.
As “I.N.” (name withheld to respect the family’s privacy), the grandmother, told the Magazine, “A few years ago my husband passed away. He was the one who always took care of house maintenance. Since his death, our financial situation has deteriorated drastically and we cannot afford some of our most basic needs.”
Upon discovering their unlivable reality, local social workers who had worked with the family in the past stepped in and called for help.
So whom did they call during the pandemic, when families could not get professional assistance in fixing even the most crucial and urgently needed repairs around the home?
They reached out to Tenufa Bakehila, Israel’s only nonprofit home-repair organization.
For the past 27 years, Tenufa has been working with maintenance professionals in 14 cities, some on staff and some serving as volunteers, in order to provide crucial and necessary repairs. These include solutions for electrical and plumbing systems, leaks in roofs, broken windows, non-functional kitchens and bathrooms, and more, for those who simply can’t afford to pay for the work.
The organization carries out around 400 repair projects a year and has touched the lives of more than 5,200 families to date. Tenufa also has its own social worker on staff to help families in distress in the areas of health, employment, education and welfare.
With the onset of COVID-19, in addition to the referrals the organization receives from welfare departments with which they work during “normal times,” Tenufa realized that more families needed their help. They therefore opened an emergency hotline for those who could not get any repair assistance during the lockdown.
In fact, the organization was recognized as an essential service provider by the government, thus allowing its repairmen to travel freely to make house calls for those in need.
Tenufa’s founder and executive director Gabi Nachmani said the organization received about 800 calls on the hotline over a two-month period. He told the Magazine, “During the eight-week lockdown we provided relief to 217 families with emergency home repairs. At the same time, many of those who called us were in desperate need of food and medical care, but that is not our field so we referred them to our friends at other organizations.”
Nachmani said that as a result of the coronavirus, the organization expanded its activities from the 14 cities in which it operates and has been helping families all over the country. He shared many stories of Tenufa being called in to help home-bound families, the elderly, Holocaust survivors and others.
“THERE WAS a Holocaust survivor whose hot water heater broke, and whose caregiver was forced to clean him for several days using wet wipes. There was a wheelchair-bound child with cerebral palsy, whose specially designed bathroom at home flooded, and he couldn’t use his toilet. And there is the story of a single-mother whose kitchen flooded as a result of faulty plumbing.
“In these stories and in many more, you can see the stress, the helplessness and the crying when these families reach out for help. But they are so grateful when we make the repairs,” he shared.
Nachmani said sadly that from March through May, 25% of those who called the hotline were Holocaust survivors.
“What’s different now is that as a result of the virus, many other families who were not considered low-income but are currently struggling financially because of corona, are reaching out to us for help as well.”
Tenufa’s project manager Yaron Arad is responsible for overseeing maintenance work and all of the logistics involved in sending work crews into people’s homes. He echoed comments by Nachmani about those who are now seeking help.
“What corona showed us is that the definition of ‘welfare’ is very wide these days,” he told the Magazine,
“Of course we help the elderly and Holocaust survivors, but now, even those who were working in hi-tech whose careers were destroyed, they are calling us for help. And that’s not an easy phone call to make for some people.”
The world-wide financial crunch has especially impacted the nonprofit sector. Nachmani said his organization is no different, as around 90% of its funding comes from donations, with around 10% coming from local municipalities. He gave an example of how Tenufa’s financial situation has been impaired.
“Just before corona hit, we had a $50,000 pledge from a US-based charitable foundation, who had already contacted us about bank-transfer information. A week later, with the onset of the crisis, that same foundation shut its doors indefinitely and we never saw the funding.”
Arad stressed that despite the sense of an uncertain future felt within the organization, he isn’t cutting any corners.
“We are not skimping on anything right now. We are continuing to work full force, as if there aren’t any issues, to help people and help change their lives. It’s either we’re all in, or we don’t show up at all!”
Even with six crews operating daily, Nachmani said there is currently a waiting list of 200 families whose homes need repairs. He frets that with the second wave of the virus, the situation will worsen, especially in the near future. Nevertheless, he is determined to help.
For “I.N.” and her family in Ashkelon, the Tenufa crew essentially installed a brand new bathroom, with a new shower system, hot water heater, brand new tiles and more.
”My heart ached every time my nine-year-old grandson had to bathe in cold water,” she said. “Now, with their [Tenufa’s] help, we can shower normally again. I can’t thank them enough!”
Nachmani noted, “We are out there, and are the only ones doing this type of work on such a big scale and helping those in need. We hope to give these families a better future, as our motto is ‘Repairing homes, rebuilding lives.’”
For more information: www.tenufa.org.