January 31st, 2020 – We are grateful to our volunteers and everyone who helped in the many cities that were visited this week.

Starting this week again in Haifa, our team assisted 100 people to receive glasses. One of the survivors the team was privileged to serve is Galina, an amazing woman who survived a concentration camp as a nine-year-old girl. She was in a camp where they did experiments on children. The Steven Spielberg Foundation, @uscshoahfoundation recorded her story. The volunteers felt touched and honored to serve such people.

In Hadera, 30 Survivors of the Holocaust and war veterans received blood pressure monitors, bought with donations from Christians in the U.S. The elderly were very grateful for the gifts.

In Holon, 75 people received 42 canes and 43 blood pressure monitors. The team also visited Netanya that has a large Russian-speaking population and a large immigrant community from the former Soviet state of Belarus as well. This community has long-standing relationship with Helping Hand Coalition for Israel. They are very warm and hospitable people and invited the volunteers to the club meeting that takes place twice a month. Both the volunteers and the elderly cherish the relationship, and two of the volunteers, Don and Martha, received a warm thank-you letter at the meeting.

In Jerusalem, the team distributed the glasses through the newly formed Jerusalem society for Survivors of the Holocaust and those affected by WWII, who invited us to assist their people. Yakov Liberman is doing a great job of organizing the new society.
The team also helped with mobility items.

In Carmiel glasses were distributed to the members of the war veterans’ organization.

Week two was concluded in Haifa serving people who were affected by WWII that came from Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Ata, and Kiryat Motskin (these towns surround Haifa and are collectively known as “Krayot”) to receive blood pressure monitors and eyeglasses. They were grateful and encouraged to be assisted by people from a faraway country and delighted that some were able to speak Russian.