About Us
Matan B’Seter Bambi is a charity that helps needy families in Eretz Yisroel with financial support.
We are staffed by an international network of volunteers — every dollar of your generous donation helps Israel’s most needy.
Rochel Bamberger Chalkowsky, known affectionately by thousands as BAMBI, has devoted her life to tzedaka. She helps support hundreds of Eretz Yisroel’s truly impoverished – desperately poor families that cannot afford bread and milk, families living without refrigerators because they can’t pay the electric bills, families living with the tremendous emotional strain of daily poverty. Rebbitzen Chalkowsky is a beloved figure who has served as chief midwife of Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek Hospital for decades.
BAMBI is not an “organization”. She has no office and no paid staff. Many gedolim, including R’ Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Shlit”a, R’ Yaakov Hillel Shlit”a and R’ Mattisyahu Salamon Shlit”a, have endorsed this worthy cause.
How you can help
Matan B’Seter Bambi is a 501(c3) tax-exempt charity in the United States and Israel.
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION!
Mailing Address:
Matan B’Seter Bambi
1667 54th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11204
Email: matanbambi@gmail.com
Phone: (718) 436-6556
Speaking Engagements
If your community is interested in hosting Bambi for a charity event, please contact her personally at 718-705-8071 (Israel hours) or Devora Prag at 718-436-6556 (East Coast hours).
BAMBI’s History
“It all started with a phone call from a friend in Switzerland during the Yom Kippur War (1973). We were petrified by the happenings of the war because it seemed that everything was lost in Israel. They wanted to do something for Israel.
“I suggested they start a little project for tzedaka because as it says, tzedaka, charity saves from death. So my friend’s little community in Lucerne decided to adopt three families by giving them the equivalent of 100 dollars monthly. One of the ladies involved was my friend Rachel Hertz, z”l. She decided that if their community can do such a project, then she will go to different cities in Europe and speak with them about taking upon themselves the same idea, the same sort of project.
“So the tzedaka spread from Lucerne to Milan, Lugano, Basel, Zurich, Antwerp and London. We were then giving to 25 families on a monthly basis. Ten years later, we started a committee in the US with connections throughout Europe and the States.
“Today, we work with fifteen different communities in the New York area alone, fifteen additional communities throughout the US and Canada and several more communities in Europe and South America. Matan B’seter Bambi’s budget today is $1.4 million dollars a year.
“All of our work done in Israel and the United States is on a volunteer basis. We don’t have offices. It’s all done from our homes. 96% of any donation to Matan B’seter Bambi is given directly to a needy recipient. The expenses allowed for the fund from donations include travel expenses, postage and professional services.” – Rebbitzen Rachel (Bambi) Chalkowski