For 14 years, an exceptional volunteer has been working on behalf of Meir Panim.
Daniel Koweity of Long Island, New York first got involved with the organization after receiving a letter describing widespread poverty in Israel and the work Meir Panim has been doing to combat this issue. Inspired to help, he met with local staff in Brooklyn and started distributing Meir Panim tzedakah boxes at local businesses. “My goal was to raise $1,000 – in a few months I had raised $1,700,” Koweity said.
And he didn’t stop there
Over the years, Koweity has brought in over $4,000 annually through tzedakah box donations, in addition to personal contributions and volunteering at local events on Meir Panim’s behalf. He distributes and collects donations from as many as 50 boxes at a time from local Kosher restaurants, pizza shops, bakeries, supermarkets, and even real estate offices.
Koweity’s dedication was reaffirmed when he visited Israel, his birthplace, on multiple occasions and spent time volunteering at Meir Panim’s Restaurant-Style Soup Kitchens in Jerusalem and Tiberias. As a volunteer, Koweity chopped vegetables served trays of nutritious food to the Restaurants’ clients and gave them meals to take home. “It was an experience I will never forget,” he stated. “It’s not just a soup kitchen, it’s a three-course meal – and that’s what inspires me. I feel like I’m doing Hashem’s work.”
Koweity also explained that seeing different types of Israelis enjoying meals together – religious and non-religious – was touching. “Being there and seeing it inspired me because I see my brethren that are hungry and old and poor.”
Through his work to better the lives of Israel’s hungry, Koweity has come to see the world in a different light. “When I pick up a tzedakah box and see a five-dollar bill inside, I know that that five dollars are feeding someone – my efforts are helping someone eat.”
Message from Daniel
And Koweity has a special message to everyone reading: “I want to thank everybody through the years that have put money in the tzedakah boxes, and I’d like to invite them, when they go to Israel, to see for themselves the work Meir Panim is doing.”
On behalf of all the Israelis who depend on our services for a daily hot meal, Meir Panim is grateful to Daniel Koweity for his heartfelt dedication!
If you are interested in volunteering at Meir Panim, please click here.