The Jewish Federations of North America has put at least $800,000 toward a new grant program — Serve Israel — that it is launching with the Israel Educational Travel Alliance to subsidize volunteering trips to Israel for 1,000 people through the end of this year, the organization said.

“Over these past 10 difficult months, we have seen the critical role that Israel travel and North American volunteers have played in both helping Israelis confront the deep challenges they face and strengthening the bonds between North Americans and Israel,” Shira Hutt, executive vice president of JFNA, said in a statement.

Serve Israel, which is being administered by JFNA and the Israel Educational Travel Alliance, receives its funding from JFNA’s Israel Emergency Fund, the Jewish Agency, Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry and the ministry-backed Mosaic United. JFNA has contributed $800,000 toward the program, according to its latest Israel Emergency Fund allocation report. 

The grants are available to any Jewish federation or group that wants to organize its own trip — either 7-10-day ones or more intensive four-week program.

For the shorter trips, organizers can receive grants of $150 per volunteer per day, up to a maximum of ten days, which can be applied to all trip costs save for transportation. Alternatively, organizations can collaborate with Birthright Israel Onward for their trip and receive a $700 flight subsidy per participant. In order to qualify, the participants must be between the ages of 16 and 40 and self-identify as Jewish. 

For the longer trips, the grants cover all of the programming costs – housing, health insurance, meals, security and ground transportation — and there is a 15% discount on El Al flights. Grantees have to charge a $200 registration fee from each participant.

The trips can offer a variety of volunteering options, from harvesting, packaging and distributing food to assisting displaced Israelis and families of deployed soldiers and tutoring children, JFNA said.  

“These programs represent an essential tool for supporting Israel and Israelis at this critical time,” Hutt said.