Anchor for Hope began with one person's experience of losing their father young — and one meeting that proved what was possible when the right person showed up.
My father dedicated his life to helping others. He taught me that the true strength of a person is not in what they have — but in what they are willing to give. This organization carries his name forward.
I was 11 years old when I lost my father — Rabbi Tzion Chaim Yosef, of blessed memory. He was a man who gave without measure, day and night in prayer and counsel for others. He left behind a lesson I didn't fully understand until years later: that the true strength of a person is not in what they have, but in what they are willing to give.
After he passed, I decided to survive. I threw myself into my studies, finished yeshiva, and kept moving. But when I reached the end of that road, I found myself standing at a crossroads with no map and no one to call. God was always my spiritual anchor — I never doubted that. But I was missing something else. A physical father. Someone who had walked the professional world and could say: I've been here. Here's the way.
"Then God sent me an extraordinary opportunity — and in an office by the marina in Herzliya, I met a businessman named Chaim Sakal. He understood within moments that I had grown up without a father. He didn't offer pity. He offered presence."
From that day, Chaim became the father figure I had been missing. He gave me strengths I didn't know I had, walked with me through my move to the United States, and supported me through every difficult moment of earning my degree at Yeshiva University — where I graduated at the top of my class. Today I am a businessman in real estate — and I carry what Chaim gave me with me every day.
I think about every young person who lost their father and never had that meeting. Who is still at the crossroads. Anchor for Hope is my answer — not to replace a father, but to offer what Chaim offered me. If you have found your footing in this world, I am asking you to be someone's Chaim Sakal. It will cost you a few hours a month. For them, it may mean everything.
To connect young people aged 13–25 who lost their father figure with experienced business professionals who offer guidance, presence, and genuine belief.
We operate globally — because the loss of a father figure knows no borders. Wherever there is a young person who needs an anchor, we want to be there.
The gap is not talent or ambition. It is access — to a guiding presence, to lived wisdom, to someone who has navigated the world and is willing to walk alongside you.
One meeting changed the founder's life. You have the power to be that meeting for someone else.
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