Shari Mendes knows how essential every grant from the charity she established is to breast cancer patients. That’s because 14 years ago, she was in their shoes. In 2010 the former Teaneck resident was diagnosed with breast cancer after undergoing a routine mammogram. She spent months going through treatments and focusing on her survival until she recovered. Determined to turn her own struggle into a source of lovingkindness, on the one year anniversary of her diagnosis she launched a charity called the Israel Lemonade Fund, Israel’s first and only breast cancer emergency financial relief fund.

During the many hours in which she found herself in doctors’ offices and hospital waiting rooms, Mendes met women who were not only struggling to beat cancer but also to put food on their table. Many of these women had to reduce their working hours or quit their jobs altogether during their treatments, resulting in extreme financial strain. Others were struggling with the increased expenses associated with the illness, such as paying for additional hours of childcare while they were undergoing treatments. One woman that Mendes met in a waiting room emitted a strong odor because she did not have enough money to purchase a washing machine to clean her clothing.

Throughout her recovery though, Mendes was able to continue working as an architect, she continued to question how fellow breast cancer patients could properly deal with their survival if they also had to worry about covering their basic needs.

Through hours of online research, Mendes discovered that unlike many other Western countries, Israel did not have a breast cancer relief fund to support patients with non-medical expenses. When she asked social workers if Israel needed this type of fund, they responded that Israel desperately did. Mendes kept thinking back to the lady in the waiting room who did not have a washing machine, and she was determined to start a fund to help women in these situations.

“Nobody was stepping up to help these people,” she said. Within one week of starting the fund, Mendes raised the money to buy this woman a washing machine.

Since its establishment, the Lemonade Fund has provided thousands of one-time grants averaging 2,500 NIS (approximately $700) to women battling breast cancer. In order to be eligible for a grant, a woman must be an Israeli citizen in her first year of diagnosis and have a proven need determined by providing three months of bank statements. Funds can be used for any purpose, such as transportation, groceries, childcare or dozens of other needs.

In addition to its regular grants, the fund also operates a housing costs expansion program that offers larger grants to support rental costs or a mortgage and that are spread out over a period of a few months. “We want to help people get through this period without financial stress, so they can focus on recovery,” Mendes explained.

The Lemonade Fund works in partnership with all Israeli hospitals and health clinics, insisting that applications be submitted through a patient’s social worker. This removes the burden from women of directly asking for financial help. Mendes explained that for many women, this is their first time they find themselves in need of financial support and they would be uncomfortable submitting their own request. After a committee approves a grant, the funds are sent directly to the patient’s bank account.

The support provided by the Lemonade Fund is a small gesture that goes a long way in helping to relieve immediate burdens that breast cancer patients suddenly face. One recipient of a grant shared that her bank account was frozen after she lost her job and hadn’t paid property taxes for a few months. The funds she received from the Lemonade Fund allowed her to hire an aide while she was undergoing chemotherapy and to buy food on her way to treatments so that she could maintain her strength.

Mendes, who put her architecture career aside in order to fully focus on operating the nonprofit, is currently working on expanding the fund to support women battling other types of cancers. She was recently awarded the 2023 Sylvan Adams Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize in recognition of her remarkable contributions to Israeli society. When she looks back on her aliyah journey, Mendes admitted that when she arrived in Israel with an established career and without the Hebrew language skills, her goal was “to just manage” as best she could. “I never saw myself as being somebody who can really contribute to society.” Yet, she continued, “I made lemonade out of lemons.”

Following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacres, Mendes found herself with another opportunity to give to society. A few years ago, Mendes was asked to join an all-women’s reserve unit of the IDF tasked with assisting in the burial preparation of female IDF soldiers. On the morning of Oct. 7 Mendes told her husband, “This could be that mass casualty event that we never thought would happen.” The following morning, she was called to report to reserve duty, where she spent weeks accompanying female victims during identification and preparing them for a proper burial.

Mendes was also tasked with giving testimony to international delegations, parliaments and the media on the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas terrorists that she bore witness to in the morgue when she received bodies of women. She also testified at the United Nations in both Geneva and New York. “I only spoke about what I saw with my own eyes,” she explained. She added, “Denial is evil. It violates the victim a second time. There may never be enough proof to satisfy everybody. But that doesn’t mean it did not happen.”

A common thread runs between Mendes’ activities in civilian life, as the founder of a charity, to her service in the IDF. She is deeply committed to caring for her fellow Israelis and to making sure that every single individual is treated with dignity. “Olim should realize that we bring something very special to Israel. And I really thought that nobody should be left behind here,” she proudly said.

For more information on the Lemonade Fund, visit www.lemonadefund.org.

Alisa Bodner is a Fair Lawn native who immigrated to Israel over a decade ago. She is a nonprofit management professional who enjoys writing in her free time.