Ensuring Uninterrupted Access to Oncology Treatments

Soon after the war began on October 7, 2023, the Lemonade Fund immediately launched an emergency fund for wartime grants (NIS 1800 each) to ensure support for uninterrupted oncology care and to fill the gap until government agencies are operating fully.

This emergency fund, with an expedited application process, supported cancer patients who suddenly found themselves in acute economic hardship 

133 Wartime Emergency Grants were sent from October 18-November 9

NIS 1800 ($465) x 133 grants = NIS 239,400 ($61,845)

How We Helped

• Funds for transporting patients who were evacuated from their homes, who were now far from treatment centers

• Childcare for those whose family members were drafted

• Income supplementation for lost income due to war

• Other emergency assistance as outlined by social workers

We thank you for donating to aid the most urgent cases of acute economic distress following the terrible attack on Israel on October 7th. 

Who we helped

These are just two examples of the 150+ applications from social workers we processed:

E., a 43-year old divorced ovarian cancer patient in active treatment, was left alone at home on the northern border when her two children, who used to accompany her to treatments, were drafted . With no way to get to her treatments, an Israel Lemonade Fund emergency war grant helps pay for taxi rides to the hospital.

R. is a 75-year old widow from Sderot being treated for endometrial cancer. She was evacuated with only the clothes on her back. She is traumatized by the rockets and afraid of what lies ahead, when, and if, she can return home. A Lemonade Fund emergency war grant is helping her purchase basic items, and pay for transportation to the hospital for treatment since she has been evacuated to a safer location.

Knowing that the war is far from over, we will now shift to assisting the war effort by allocating additional funding to Lemonade Fund applicants who have suffered financial impact caused by war. 

Please partner with us to keep oncological care uninterrupted during this challenging time. Thank you.

Please stand with us to come to their aid.

A donor has generously offered to cover the costs of running this program – 100% of your donation will go directly to fund grants.

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Empowering the Periphery

The Lemonade Fund Empowering the Periphery program provides additional funds to recipients of emergency financial relief grants for Israeli citizens with breast and gynecological malignancies from underserved communities and weak populations.

The Empowering the Periphery program arose from the urgent need to provide the extra help needed for patients most affected by the inherent social, economic and healthcare inequities in the towns, villages and communities located in Israel’s periphery.

Why is the Empowering the Periphery Program So Important?

Serious illness is expensive. Research has shown that in six months, a health crisis can force a family into bankruptcy or homelessness. Cancer treatments are long and often cause many extra expenses, (i.e., childcare or household help, transportation to and from doctor appointments and treatments, etc.) However, the primary impact is loss of income due to time off from work. Some patients get to a point where they cannot pay rent and eviction becomes a threat.

These difficulties are ten-fold in under-served populations in rural cities, towns and villages. The objective of the Lemonade Fund’s Empowering the Periphery program is to give help where it is needed most: for patients crushed by the burden of time-consuming travel, high transportation costs and who face the threat of losing their homes. Empowering the Periphery program grants will be used to help cover these costs and overcome inherent inequities in Israel’s periphery communities.

Who is eligible?

• Israeli citizens, within one year of diagnosis, with proven financial need, living in the periphery
• Grant applications are submitted via hospital and community social workers.
• A committee meets once a month to review applications, vetting and verifying applications using a transparent, detailed point system

J. is a divorced 53 year-old new immigrant from Russia. She immigrated with one of her three daughters to escape the war in nearby Ukraine, arriving right before war broke out in Israel on October 7. She was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after. J. speaks almost no Hebrew, suffers from depression and is too weak from treatments to work. With her absorption package ending, a Lemonade Fund grant is helping J. and her daughter meet their most basic household expenses. This is allowing J. to focus on her recovery and begin her new life in Israel.

Empowering the Periphery Program Rationale

Target Population

Israel’s periphery is defined as the Northern regions of the Galilee, upper Galilee and Golan Heights, the Negev region in Israel’s south, and Eilat. Many communities in these areas have disproportionately large numbers of economically and educationally disadvantaged residents, and are home to large minority populations, such as Druze, Israeli Arabs, Beduin, Circassian, new immigrants from Ethiopia, the Former Soviet Union and Ukrainian war refugees.

Demographic Research

The ramifications of these inequities relative to outcomes and cancer care are well-documented in the Trends and Gaps in Morbidity and Mortality from Cancer Within Towns in Israel analysis, published in February 2023 by the Taub Center. This report suggests that Israelis living in the most wealthy localities have a better chance of surviving cancer than those who live in the rest of the country, indicating substantial differences between low to middle-income vs high-income areas.

The analysis suggests that there is “health inequality” related to socioeconomic status and unequal health provision outside central Israel. This stems, in part, from the fact that wealthier populations tend to lead healthier lifestyles with better access to healthcare and better knowledge of how to navigate Israel’s public healthcare systems. A second explanation reflects geographical factors. Israel’s wealthiest locales tend to be clustered in the center of the country, where there is a range of high caliber top medical facilities. In Israel’s periphery there is a much smaller choice of health facilities to choose from, most of which are not research facilities and people need to travel much farther to reach these hospitals and clinics for proper treatment of serious illnesses, like breast cancer and gynecological malignancies. If there are fewer medical professionals and it is difficult for patients to schedule and reach appointments in the periphery, it follows that the rate of earlier detection declines, leaving patients sicker and with lower chances of successfully fighting disease.

Lemonade Fund Experience

The results of this research is inline with the Lemonade Fund’s historical application data. Approximately 90% of the applicants for emergency grants from 2022 to date submitted by social workers for patients in the periphery suffer from late stage disease and cite they are struggling under difficulties related to transport (time and cost). Many report numerous underlying conditions and comorbidities that make their disease even more difficult to treat and manage.

A. 49 year-old Bedouin woman, the second wife of a man 20 years her senior and the mother of several children, turned to the Lemonade Fund for financial assistance for childcare and household expenses, and critical travel expenses to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva, a great distance from her Bedouin settlement, for treatments. She suffers great pain from Stage IV breast cancer and is unable to care for herself or her family, causing severe depression.

“The socioeconomic situation is generally lower in the periphery. The catchment area of Soroka Hospital covers one of the largest geographical areas in the country. That means many patients have to travel by bus for close to three hours round trip for treatments, some of which are given daily for a month. There are no nearby accommodation options or cost-effective transportation for those distances. Also fewer residents in the periphery carry private health insurance making it difficult, if not impossible, to pay for medicines outside the health basket.”
Oncology Institute Social Worker
Soroka University Medical Center, Beer Sheva

Your contribution to the Empowering the Periphery program will go directly toward providing the extra help cancer patients from Israel’s under-served periphery communities need.

The Lemonade Fund invites supporters to send meaningful e-cards in lieu of Mishloach Manot for Purim.

The proceeds of the e-cards go directly to support emergency financial aid for Israeli cancer patients, in need, throughout the Israel.

For a minimum donation, donors receive a beautifully designed e-card, customized with their name, to share as many times as they wish.

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