Repairing Homes and Rebuilding Lives

For over 30 years, Tenufa Bakehila-Building Hope has been carrying out critical home repairs for Israel's neediest families.  Now, during wartime, the needs are even greater.

Repairing Homes, Rebuilding Lives

Thousands of families throughout Israel live in substandard conditions, severely impacting their health, safety, and dignity.  Without the resources to repair unsafe wiring, collapsing walls, non-functional kitchens, broken plumbing and leaky roofs, these families fall into abject despair.

As Israel's ONLY large-scale non-profit home repair organization for poverty-stricken homeowners, Tenufa has dramatically changed the lives of over 8,000 families to date, providing them with a healthy, nurturing and safe home environment.  Every day, municipal welfare services across the country refer new families to Tenufa, including single parent households, children with special needs, people living with disabilities, immigrants, elderly adults, and Holocaust survivors.  

While Tenufa's professional work teams carry out comprehensive repairs in the home – including replacing roofing, installing new kitchens and bathrooms, fixing broken windows and doors – the organization's social worker works with families to identify gaps in their welfare plans and connect them with better resources.  She facilitates access to food, furniture, after-school care and tutoring, employment guidance and support – empowering families to face life with renewed dignity and independence.

This past year, Tenufa repaired 600 substandard homes for needy families across the country.

Responding to New Wartime Challenges – 500 Life-Saving Bomb Shelters

Since the onset of the war, Tenufa Bakehila took on a vital national mission: making urgent repairs to hundreds of bomb shelters that were unfit for use – especially in impoverished areas under missile attacks.  

Low-income residents discovered their building shelters in terrible condition – flooded with water and sewage, lacking functional bathroom facilities or working electricity – offering virtually no protection for extended stays.  While the Israeli government oversees and funds the maintenance of public shelters, the upkeep of shelters in privately owned apartment buildings is the responsibility of the residents.  Many of these shelters are shared by poverty-stricken families, already struggling to afford basic repairs to their own homes; they simply don’t have the resources to fix their building shelters, leaving them without protection in a time of crisis. 

With over 30 years of on-the-ground experience employing skilled manpower, Tenufa Bakehila is uniquely equipped to handle repairs on a large scale.  That is why the office of Israel's President and emergency municipal headquarters turned to Tenufa, with urgent requests to help the thousands of people in desperate need of safety and shelter. 

Watch this inspiring video of Tenufa Bakehila's emergency war efforts

To date, Tenufa has repaired over 500 life-saving shelters, fixing walls, doors, windows and floors, and equipping shelters with emergency lights, new water tanks and pumps, and air ventilation systems where needed.

With the war on the northern front intensifying, thousands more people are currently at risk, and the waitlist for shelters  in need of repairs grows daily.

"Your organization is a beacon of light amid the darkness of war." – office of Israel's President Isaac Herzog

Tenufa's Impact – By the Numbers

• 8,000 dilapidated homes renovated to date [at no cost to impoverished families] 
• 500 bomb shelters repaired and equipped [providing 5,000 families with access to safe shelter during missile attacks]
• 30 years since Tenufa Bakehila's grassroots inception 
• 20 cities across Israel: Today, Tenufa is an experienced non-profit with national reach, partnering with municipalities from Hatzor, Migdal HaEmek and Or Akiva in the north, to Sderot, Netivot, Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva in the south. 
• 11 professional work teams spread out across the country from north to south 
• ₪ 7,400 - average cost of repairing a home 
• ₪ 7,000 - average cost of making a bomb shelter safe and accessible. 

Tenufa Bakehila fills a niche in housing welfare that remains unaddressed by any other organization or government program. Looking towards the future, Tenufa Bakehila will continue working to ensure the safety and restore the dignity of all families – during wartime and every day thereafter. 

For more information or to donate, contact Tenufa Bakehila:  

Tel:  02-679-3491  email:  office.tenufa@gmail.com visit our website.

Tenufa Bakehila-Building Hope is funded entirely by tax-deductible donations.   

This article was written in cooperation with Tenufa Bakehila