The Discount Group announced today (Sunday) that it has established Keren Or – a foundation dedicated to assisting children and youth injured and impacted by the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 and amid the ongoing war in Israel. The foundation which has been established by the Discount Group, will amount to 50 million NIS (approximately $15 million) and will provide a broad, holistic and long-term solution to the needs of children and youth by helping heal their bodies and minds in order to restore their personal wellbeing, as well as the safety of their communities.

Keren Or (Hebrew for “A Ray of Light”) strives to ensure that youth who have been hurt during the war, whether physically or psychologically, will receive the help they need with efficiency, ease, and free of burdensome bureaucracy, even after the initial shock of the fighting and the war itself has ended. 

The foundation will be run through the Heznek Le’Atid Association, and in collaboration with the Israeli Trauma Coalition (ITC), to bring forward comprehensive support services, which will include but are not limited to mental health, medical, and both special and general education, leveraging ITC’s resilience centers in the towns and Kibbutzim around the Gaza strip, and at various other locations in the south of the country. Keren Or specialty enrichment programs, which will include group strengthening workshops, rehabilitation and relief activities, community and social leadership initiatives, educational support and more. 

With the establishment of the foundation, a framework is being design to ensure the foundation can identify needs, prioritize them and provide the best services where they are mostly needed and can make the biggest impact. 

Avi Levi, the CEO of the Discount Group: “It is difficult to even think about how much the lives of the people of Israel, and in particular the lives of many of our children and young people, have been turned upside down. In this difficult period, innocent young boys and girls are going through an ongoing nightmare and it is still too early for us to be able to even estimate its full implications. The families are facing a long and complex period, and they have no choice but to find the resilience and tremendous inner strength in order for them to rehabilitate and restore their health. At this difficult hour, we will do everything that we can in order to help them rebuild their lives and to provide critical resources that will enable their recovery toward mental and emotional wellness after the horror they have been through. Through a collaborative effort, we will strive to secure the future of our children and provide them a ray of light (Keren Or) and hope for the future to come”.

The “Heznek Le’Atid” Association has been operating in cooperation with the Discount Group since 2005 to promote education in the periphery. It will now be expanding its operations and coordinate the operation of the foundation with Discount Group.

The Resilience Centers were established by the Israeli Trauma Coalition, and are working to provide a response, amongst other activities, to accelerate the recovery of communities, families and individuals so that they can return back to their routine after the traumatic emergency situation.

Since the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War on October 7, 2023, the Discount Group has expanded the routine assistance to the residents located in the south of Israel, as well as to our customers and security forces, as part of our commitment to the community. The Group is taking action, among other things, to help with hosting arrangements, as well as the purchase of food and equipment, professional accompaniment and supportive care to evacuees from the settlements around the Gaza strip. A special call center has been set up in the Bank’s head office in order to provide immediate and personal attention and address the needs of our customers from the settlements around the Gaza strip. Furthermore, a team was established to deal with various requests for assistance facing the various entities and to direct donations and volunteers to the various activities.

Since the onset of the conflict, Discount Group has additionally provided households and small businesses with a series of reprieves and benefits related to their bank accounts, such as increasing credit limits for all of the Bank’s customers, providing interest-free loans with up to 24 payments for residents of the settlements around the Gaza strip, offering mortgage repayment, and more. Furthermore, a dedicated service and assistance center was established in order to provide service and assistance in urgent cases, which can be reached through [email protected].

This press release was originally published by Discount Group in Hebrew. View the original announcement here.