The first B’nai B’rith lodge in Israel was established in 1888. Now there are approximately 70 lodges, organized into regional councils. Each lodge plans its own activities, some include: helping schools, kindergartens, hospitals’ clubs for the blind, and recent immigrants; delivering food and clothes to needy people; providing housing for soldiers who have completed military service and wish to attend college; organizing Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebrations for boys and girls from deprived families; and assisting special scholarship programs and institutes for special education. Some lodges have kitchens that daily serve hundreds of meals to the needy.