Non Profit Organization/ Amuta
registered #580452910
Shovach (Hebr. dovecote) is a charitable organization, determined to helping the homeless people in Jerusalem/ Israel, regardless of their religious, ethnic, cultural, political or whatsoever background by giving them shelter and providing further support.
Shovach first priority is to be survival support.
Shovach is focused on growth in a double sense:
Being homeless in the broadest sense describes the situation of an individual or a group of people who do not have a dwelling place.
A dwelling place is one of the basic needs of a human being.
The basic needs of a human being include the following:
Order and content of the list may vary slightly according to different theories. We do not try to teach Social Science here. Our main interest is to show, that one or more missing items on this list means a serious threat for the existence of the stricken individual or group. In this list the immediate danger is dropping from the top to the bottom. The lack of a dwelling place endangers the existence of an individual or a group.
Homeless people usually do not have this one and only problem. Homelessness is often just the tip of the iceberg. Homeless people usually carry some combination of social, familial, addiction related, material, cultural, psychological, health related or juridical problems. The problem I found most widespread among homeless people in Switzerland is alcoholism and other forms of addiction.
The situation in Israel may not look much different. To help the homeless people is therefore not done with providing them with food, clothing and a dry sleeping place. They need more. They need us!
Homeless people are found always in Jerusalem. During summer they sometimes lodge in the open, even in the center of town. In winter this is impossible because of the wet and cold weather, therefore they hide in the countless caves, cisterns and broken-down dwellings etc.
The need of homeless people in Israel is generally met with food and clothing projects. Such are found in Jerusalem, too. The only dwelling project we could discover so far is for homeless youth. Adult and elderly homeless people are usually ignored.
Possible beneficiaries of Shovach are:
(*This is only meant as life saving and humanitarian action. These clients will be forwarded to respective legal, social, medical or whatsoever fitting institutions)
Project Shovach is development oriented.
The clients of Shovach shall be helped to understand their situation, to verbalize desired changes, to work out solutions and to take steps to realize them.
Counselling is the best way to work with problematic people. This will lead to further actions like:
Development means also, that clients may not only find a better place in society, and ones might even become aids or workers in Shovach.
Of all good intentions for the work with homeless people the coworkers of Shovach will be able to bring about only as much as the existent infrastructure on one hand and the capability and goodwill of the helpers and the clients on the other hand will allow
Shovach is basically open for clients and workers likewise. First we will open a help center for the winter. There the homeless can warm up, eat something, take a shower, change their clothes and rest until daybreak.
During the warm season we will use the facility as for occupational programs.
For our volunteers we will provide a place to stay.
| Amuta/ |
| Supporters |
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| Pm (Management)/ Supervision |
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| Co (Volunteers) |
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| Cl (Clients) |
The Amuta is a legal person, similar to a foundation or an association. An Amuta is a NPO (Non Profit Organization), NGO (Non Governmental Organization), which is a private charitable non-profit-organization.
The Supporters are people who have entered some sort of commitment towards Shovach. This commitment may be of different kind:
Financial support can be direct or mediate. In any case it is a form of indirect cooperation. A person or organization who wants to put finances at our disposal can do so as a donor or a cofounder, but on the other hand people may feel guided to collect money in our place and in such a way enter into indirect cooperation.
The cooperation can also be direct or mediate. If for example a legal expert helps to found the Amuta, he enters direct cooperation at the highest level. A Volunteer on the other hand, working for several weeks of a year in Shovach, taking care for homeless people, has entered direct cooperation on the front-lines. Someone helping with the dispatch of our quarterly newsletter will work in direct cooperation in the background, while a prayer partner is in mediate cooperation like someone collecting money or sending volunteers. Every sort of cooperation is vital to Shovach.
While the prayer is the least visible form of indirect cooperation and support, in our view it is the most powerful and most valuable way of supporting our work from the background.
Supervision (SV) is a supportive institution for the project-management (Pm).
The SV serves the functionality of the Pm.
SV is a means to control the realization of the purposes of the project and it helps to insure its function according to the plan.
The SV is a basically neutral institution being aware of and subordinating to aim and objective of the project. If needed, the SV because of her neutrality is able to investigate the project and its goals, thus opening way for alternative solutions.
The SV in her function of control also serves the Organization as a whole. Because of her neutrality she is allowed, to sit in the Amuta without being a member, and of the same reason she is not member of the Pm.
Because of her neutrality the SV can focus on the person as well as on the object.
Project Shovach can be contacted here:
Amutat SHOVACH, P.O.Box 733, Jerusalem 91007
The Pm is member of the Amuta.
In autumn 2005 a group of concerned people formed, and the Amuta was founded.
We want to involve Supporters from Jerusalem and Israel as well as from abroad.
By publishing this concept we officially declare to be depending on donations and we also pronounce to be ready to travel abroad in order to finance our project.
All income and expenses of project Shovach will be recorded and an annual balance sheet will be inspected by the state of Israel.
Since March 2007 we are renting a place at Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, opposite the municipality and in immediate neighborhood to the Old City.
The place is not really fit for a dwelling place. We will use it only as a shelter and as a help center.
For further therapeutic work and the therefore needed dwelling places we will look out as soon as we will need them and the finances will be at hand.
Coworkers will be chosen by the Pm.
On every level of the organization the staff can consist of Israelis and non-Israelis, volunteers and employees as well. Clients can be involved in the work of the project, too.
All members of the staff have to be mature persons with practise in the field. Distribution of manpower is subdued to the judgment of the Pm in agreement with the involved.
During the stage of the beginning and if manpower is lacking, the Pm will work on his own.
General requirements for coworkers are: over 21 years of age, no addiction whatsoever, psychologically and physically healthy and living in proper relationships.
As a help organization we want to be ready to adjust to the always changing situation in the environment. Therefore we have formulated our goals in a rather general sense.
An organization's ability to adjust is depending on its components. Different small institutions provide much space for different activities, but calls for a large manpower and budget. One single large institution limits the space but works with smaller number of manpower and smaller budget.
In order to receive a good financial statement and the organization to function efficiently, we will need both bigger and smaller institutions.
Jerusalem, August 2007