About Us

We at Pitchon Lev work to fulfill our ideology and vision – that there will be no hungry, poor or needy people in the State of Israel. In order to realize this vision, we have for over ten years been committed to saving families and teens and to breaking the cycle of poverty, through humanitarian assistance of educational opportunities.

There is a shameful amount of poverty in Israel. The Poverty Report and official data collected by the National Insurance Institute of Israel show that there are 1.67 million men, women and children living beneath the poverty line, in horrendous conditions. Of these, over 800,000 are miserable children, hungry for a decent meal.

It was in response to this distressing reality that Pitchon Lev was founded with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty for families and teens by the following means:

1. Initial humanitarian assistance at the aid centers: distribution of food, clothing, shoes, and other items to the hungry and needy.
2. Teen education and empowerment at the Ilan Ramon Touching the Horizons Educational Center. Ilan Ramon was the first Israel astronaut; he  died in 2003 aboard the space shuttle Columbia.
3. Lobbying the establishment to act on behalf of the needy in Israel,

Our humanitarian work is made possible thanks to generous donations from the public, solicited by a professional staff operating thousands of volunteers and supporters around the country.
The volunteers work at the aid centers and enable us to extend the help we can offer to national proportions. Among our volunteers are schoolchildren, members of youth movements, soldiers in the IDF, students, corporate employees, housewives, citizens from every walk of Israeli life, and some of the aid recipients themselves.

Aid centers
At our two national Pitchon Lev aid centers – in Rishon LeTziyon, serving the center of the country, and in Carmi’el, serving the north – we help over 200,000 people a year from disadvantaged families who are referred to us by social workers throughout Israel.
Every month, we distribute some 4,000 food baskets, some 1,000 food baskets for infants, and over 20,000 items of clothing, shoes, housewares, toys, games, books, school bags, linens, and baby goods.
As a national humanitarian umbrella organization, we help soup kitchens, senior citizen centers, yeshivas, shelters for battered women, orphanages, shelters for teens at risk, regional councils, municipalities, and dozens of organizations distributing food to thousands of needy throughout Israel.

The Ilan Ramon Touching the Horizons Educational Center

Based on a belief that the future of Israeli society depends on the education of today’s youth, we work hard to take young people who have the potential and will to succeed out of the cycle of poverty, crime and desperation.
Through the Touching the Horizons Educational Center, we operate multiyear educational and emotional empowerment programs for teens. They receive an education, an opportunity to succeed in life, and the tools they need to break out of the cycle of poverty.

As part of the program, teams of skilled professional educators, guidance counselors, psychologists, and organizational consultants, supervise the teens throughout, to ensure that they successfully complete their high school studies, receive their matriculation certificates, and enlist in the IDF.

The educational program was created together with Tel Aviv University, and is under the academic supervision of Prof. Yossi Katan from the School of Social Work.
The center is named for Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, and works to realize his vision of educating the future generation of Israelis.