Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreyww/8159503593/sizes

ESRA has been providing scholarships for students in need of help with university tuition. When ESRA co-chairperson, Adele Hunter, met with Bar Ilan University's Dean of Students to discuss the coming year's scholarship candidates, she discovered that there were students with other pressing needs. The Dean explained that many Ethiopian students rely on the coupons they receive from the Dean's office for their one hot meal a day. Unfortunately, there is no longer a source of funding for this service. The Dean asked if perhaps ESRA could help to ensure that these students continue to get their one hot meal a day. 

Until now the students have been receiving a coupon for 10 meals per month. The coupon is worth NIS170, with each NIS17 meal including a serving of meat in a pita, chips, salad and a drink. The Dean's office is only able to buy 117 coupons – enough to feed 30 students for a period of 4 months. We at ESRA want to ensure that the students' bodies are nourished as well as their minds, for the duration of the school year. Having turned, not for the first time, to a wonderfully generous donor, we are pleased to say that with this help and ESRA's initiative, needy Ethiopian students at Bar Ilan University will have more than food for thought.