Wizo UK has met its annual fundraising target of £1.9 million in support of social welfare projects across Israel.

The money raised by the women's charity, which has 90 branches around Britain, will fund work from homework clubs for deprived teenagers to the employment of a social worker to help Ethiopian immigrant children adjust.

Proceeds from Wizo's annual dinner, literary lunches and door-to-door collections for Jewish Women's Week have already helped to save a playground earmarked for closure at a centre for deprived and at-risk children in Jerusalem.

Also among the 100 projects assisted are a newly-opened carpentry workshop giving teenagers excluded from school a chance to learn a trade and a community centre offering a safe haven for neglected youth.

UK chair Loraine Warren praised members for their "imaginative and resourceful fundraising initiatives".