Our Mission
It is a Human Right to have access to healthy food.
Our mission is to fulfill this obligation.
100 years ago Safta (Grandma) Pesia fed the poor in her hometown of Volozhyn, Poland and today her grandchildren and great-grandchildren continue her mission in Tel Aviv. At Pesia’s Kitchen, we focus on helping those who are in the greatest need through food rescue. Thanks to our generous partners, we are able to deliver hot meals and baked goods to elders, children of refugees in South Tel Aviv, women and children in battered women’s shelters, homeless centers and other locations. In addition to hot meals, with the help of our friends and partners at Leket Israel, each week we provide hundreds of people with nutritious fresh produce. We invite you to join us as we rescue fresh, healthy food and deliver it to those who need it most.
How We Do It
As a lean organization with low operating expenses and minimal staff, Pesia’s Kitchen relies on the partnerships and cooperative spirit of other Israeli nonprofit organizations to accomplish our mission. Our skilled team of drivers collect hot meals, fresh produce, and baked goods from generous food donors–food that would otherwise be needlessly thrown away– and distributes it to select agencies and individuals in need. Elderly day centers, communal houses for homeless men, daycare centers for refugee children, battered women’s shelters, after-school youth programs, and more all benefit from these efforts.
Pesia’s Kitchen serves approximately 1,000 persons per day.
Food Recipients & Supported Communities
Due to our involvement in the field, we are able to directly and swiftly respond to the call of various organizations and individuals suffering from food insecurity who reside and work mainly in the poorest communities of South Tel Aviv.
Food Donors
Our generous food donors provide us with an average of 1,000 meals a day, five days a week.
Contributing Partners
About Us
Pesia’s Kitchen, founded in 2011, focuses on rescuing nutritious, freshly prepared food and delivering it to those who need it most. We believe that no food should go to waste when there are so many people living in chronic hunger, specifically in poor South Tel Aviv neighborhoods.
Pesia’s Kitchen, along with our corporate food donors and our partner, Leket Israel, rescues and delivers over 515,000 pounds of food every year, all at the astonishingly low cost to the organization of one shekel per meal.
Pesia’s Kitchen is a lean organization operating with a yearly budget of less than 500,000 NIS ($140,000).
- 80% of our budget is earmarked for labor costs involved in rescuing and delivering 200 tons of food to our recipient partnering agencies.
- 20% underwrites direct related expenses which include automobile maintenance, gas, and insurance fees.
The use of strategic volunteers allows us to keep these expenses low. There is no rent, secretarial expenses and our legal and accounting service fees are underwritten by members of our Board of Directors.
In Action
Our Story
Pesia’s Kitchen was founded by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Safta (Grandma) Pesia who fed the poor in her hometown of Volozhyn, Poland. While Pesia did not have much, she knew that food should be a basic human right and that nobody should go hungry. Co-founders, cousins, and the grandchildren of Pesia herself, Gideon Ben Ami and Pnina Raphael, decided to continue Pesia’s work in Tel Aviv and knew how to do it due to their vast background in the food world.
With a successful career as a restaurateur, both in the US and Israel, Gideon understood the food industry, while Pnina spent many years volunteering with Tel Aviv soup kitchens, getting to know the city’s hungry residents. Combining their insights, they had a comprehensive and complete picture of where food was going to waste and who needed it most.
Contact Us
Email: pesiaskitchen@gmail.com
To reach us by phone
Gideon Ben Ami
Co Founder and Co-Executive Director
052-325-6011
Tamar Benoliel Karmy
Co-Executive Director
050-365-5755
Get In Touch
Where to find us
Sundays to Wednesday before noon you can find us at:
Derech Ben Zvi 40, Tel Aviv
Our Team
Our team is comprised of executives coordinating and executing the complex operations and logistics involved with rescuing and distributing more than half a million meals a year, with the help of a small team of dedicated drivers.
Gideon Ben Ami Co Founder and Co-Executive Director
Tamar Benoliel Karmy Co-Executive Director
Our Board of Directors
Our board includes compassionate and generous people committed to ensuring that Pesia’s Kitchen reaches its full potential.
Pnina Raphael Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder
Prof. Yuval Elbashan, Adv. Dean, Ono Academic College, Faculty of Law
Yossi Alfi Storyteller, Artistic director
Dr. Ronit Sharon Psychotherapist, Social worker
Anna Scali Linguist, Social Activist, Advocate (ret.)
Nicole Fleischer Corporate Technology Executive
Shai Ben-Ami Commerical Real Estate Broker
Dr. Anat Kop Organizational Consultant, Founder of Amutat SELA
Ruti Lalkin Civil rights advocate, “SHIL” governmental agency
Shira Ben-Ami Executive Director at Israel Seminar
Guy Baram CEO, Baram Original Advertising
Avichai Bakst Head of Partnerships, Business Development Lead at Waze
Honorary Board Members
Daniel Shapiro Ambassador of the United States of America to the State of Israel (ret.)
Julie Fisher Educator, Community Activist
Ophir Pinas-Paz Tel-Aviv University, Former MK & Minister of Interior
Advisory Board
Erez Lalkin, Adv. Lalkin, Weiss, Gutman, Law Offices
Tamar Yaron Founder of “Jump Cut” School for film editing
Dr. Raanan Kop, CPA, LL.B BDSK Accountants, Chairman of the Jerusalem Association of Accountants
Ruth Berdah-Canet Award-winning documentary filmmaker
Dr. Stuart Fleischer The Walworth Barbour American International School, Tel-Aviv University
Donate to Pesia’s Kitchen
Your contribution can really make a difference.
Pesia’s Kitchen has ambitious plans to create an even bigger impact on the South Tel Aviv community by rescuing one million meals a year. In order to make these plans a reality, an incremental expansion of food donors, equipment, transportation and staff will be required to service the new food donors, as well as the supported communities. With your donation, Pesia’s Kitchen will reach its goal of rescuing and providing one million meals in the year 2020.
To Donate in Israel:
Under Donation Use
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funds are to be directed
to Pesia’s Kitchen
Choose “Pesiaskitchen”
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