In cooperation with Hamal Bitton | Giving Israeli Soldiers A Hot Meal For Purim | Despite the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon, tens of thousands of soldiers and reservists are still there - on the border, in Lebanon, and now in Syria as well. In winter cold, in makeshift positions, they are there to keep Israel safe. With Purim coming up in two weeks, you can help put a smile on a soldier's face - with a hot homecooked meal. Raya and Dina are volunteers from Nahariya, a small Israeli town near the Lebanon border. The two women lead a team of more than 30 local volunteers. Together, they cook homemade meals for more than 8,500 Israeli soldiers. A small comfort, a reminder of home, that keeps the soldiers going after more than a year of war. Much like Israel, Raya, Dina and the team don't plan on giving up. But the upcoming holidays are a tough challenge. The volunteers are barely able to scrape together the money for groceries even on a regular week (tens of thousands). And it would be so great for the soldiers to get a special meal for the holidays, a little extra to remind them of home, of life without war. They can't make it without your help. There are no big orgs involved here, no CEOs getting paychecks, no big campaigns. It's just the volunteers. Every cent you give, goes 100% to buy food for soldiers. Your donation will make a real, immediate difference. It won't go to some big charity's annual report - it will be used to give a warm, homemade meal to soldiers, this week.
| What is this about? On October 7th, 2023, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza. They slaughtered 1200 men, women, children and babies. Since then, Israel has been at war. Not just in Gaza - another, arguably more dangerous front, was Lebanon. Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that larger and more heavily armed than Hamas, has been attacking the northern border of Israel daily, with rockets, mortars, anti-tank missiles and drones. It made no secret of intending to invade the North of Israel and make October 7th pale in comparison.
Raya and Dina, together with their families, neighbors and friends, have started cooking warm meals for soldiers stationed next to them, right after the war broke out. They are still cooking every day, more than a year later.
They started with a few hundred, but as the word spread - few hundred became few thousand, then 5,000, then 7,000 and now more than 8,500. And even that is not enough - we just don't have enough money to buy more groceries. The "ceasefire" now in place in Lebanon changed almost nothing. It's not like the soldiers can go home. They are still there, keeping Hezbollah terrorists at bay, protecting the border, and now there is a new threat from Syria.
The costs for groceries are unfortunately more than the volunteers can handle (about 23,000 USD are now needed for each week, all thanks to your donations). The team is really trying to keep feeding our boys and girls at the front, and even to feed more. It's so sad to see that more of them want the meals and they just don't have any more to spare.
They need your help.
| What's the money for?
It's important for us to clarify: nobody is getting paid here. There's no CEO, there's no staff, nobody is getting paychecks, not even a cent. Everyone is a volunteer, they give it our all, for free.
The money goes 100% towards buying groceries to cook the meals.
If you know someone from the area, you can also give groceries directly, not just money. They need chicken, meat, rice, pasta, veggies, and trays that they use to deliver it to the soldiers. You can contact us 0526374220 to give any of those (or pretty much any food, they'll find a way to turn it into a meal).
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