Like many businesses in Pittsburgh's Partnership 2000 sister community of Karmiel, Green Bucket Industries was hit hard by Israel's security situation and economic difficulties.
The United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh Israel Emergency Appeal Revolving Loan Fund stepped in and provided Green Bucket with the funds necessary to keep going and even expand. The factory now provides a livelihood to 24 employees, including rehabilitated drug addicts and disabled former IDF soldiers, who work on transforming empty plastic bottles into buckets, which are shipped throughout the world.
"Thanks to the fund, we were able to hire more workers and expand our industry," Green Bucket owner Meir Amzaleg said.
Green Bucket Industries is just one of 17 businesses in Karmiel and the Misgav region that have been helped by the loan fund. Altogether, more than $600,000 has been divided and at least 30 new jobs have been created, no small accomplishment at a time when the communities around the Galilee are suffering from severe unemployment.
The fund was started with $800,000 from the UJF, $750,000 from Bank Otzar Hahayal, and $250,000 from the Jewish Agency for Israel. It provides loans to small businesses as well as training courses to the needy and scholarships to college students.
The goal of the fund is to help small and middle-sized businesses that fell on hard times due to the security situation in Israel and thereby strengthen Karmiel-Misgav and the Galilee region as a whole. A product of UJF's Israel Emergency Appeal, the fund was initiated when its organizers realized that the region's economic problems were intensified by the security situation.
"Businesses were collapsing and people were being fired, so we thought that something needed to be done, and from that, the idea of the fund was born," said the Jewish Agency's Karmiel-Misgav regional director, Yael Reich. "It has been a great success. Businesses have been opened, others haven't closed, and jobs have been found to improve the welfare of the region's residents."
Edgar Snyder, who heads up the Revolving Loan Fund project for the UJF in Pittsburgh, said he's pleased by its progress.
"On my most recent trip to Israel I had the chance to sit in on the committee loan meetings and meet some of the loan recipients," he said. "I can honestly say that if it wasn't for the generous monies given by our community to the Israel Emergency Appeal, these loans would never be given."
Marcie Lang, the UJF's representative in Israel, said entrepreneurs with viable Karmiel-Misgav businesses were invited to submit plans and applications, which were evaluated by a public committee with representatives from UJF, the Jewish Agency, Bank Otzar Hahayal, Karmiel, Misgav and the public sector.
"The loans have helped businesses recover from financial difficulties by giving them breathing room and capital to work with," Lang said. "The new jobs that have been created have strengthened the region and have made a huge impact on keeping people living and working in the area. UJF has shown its commitment to Karmiel-Misgav, and this in turn helps build our relationship."
Another business that was helped by the fund is Home Power Solutions, a three-year-old company in Karmiel that develops power supplies for Israel Aircraft Industries and other Israeli military companies. The loan enabled the company's owner, Oleg Boyarko, to expand his staff from 12 to 16 people and win a lucrative contract to provide supplies to a civilian firm in Canada.
Nearly all of Boyarko's employees are immigrants from the former Soviet Union, some of whom are veteran engineers who might otherwise have been unable to find employment in Israel.
The fund also provided a loan to Aqualogy, a company in Misgav's Moshav Manof that raises vibrant blue crabs for ornamental aquariums. Its owner, Shai Leviner, said the loan helped Aqualogy advance from the stage of proving its concept to full production.
"We are using the funding to build a Web site, go to fairs and market to distributors around the world," Leviner said. "We will hire more people from the area. And the business will help Israel, because we intend to export to the world and become major players in our field."
Misgav Mayor Erez Kreisler said that the fund came about from a conversation that he had with the late UJF chair, Karen Shapira, in which he explained how small businesses in the periphery areas of Israel were facing challenging times. He said the fund would be part of Shapira's legacy.
"The fund is helping small businesses in Misgav weather this difficult economic period, survive, and flourish," Kreisler said. "By helping so many people, the fund is carrying out Karen Shapira's vision."
Karmiel Mayor Adi Eldar, who heads the Israeli Union of Local Authorities, agreed.
"We appreciate Pittsburgh's decision to advance businesses of Karmiel and Misgav that fell into problems due to the economic situation and the new businesses at the start of their path," Eldar said. "It's a contribution that warms the heart and testifies to the warm connection between the communities."
Gil Hoffman is The Chronicle's Israel correspondent. He also is a national political reporter for The Jerusalem Post. He can be reached online at gil@jpost.com.