The hangar gates opened at 7 a.m., and many people were already lining up to help and volunteer. By 10 a.m., more than a thousand volunteers were there.
Israelis donated everything, some came with checkbooks, wrote down any amount they asked for and disappeared as they came,
Some were arranging merchandise, others were transporting donations to the south from families who wanted to donate but were afraid to leave the house, others wrapped and packed. The Excels showed the crazy data: Israelis donated everything, and in unimaginable quantities: tens of thousands of bottles of drink, quantities of hygiene products that people bought at full price and at their own expense (most supermarket chains did not lower prices, of course), green T-shirts, quantities of chargers and portable chargers in large boxes, and a lot of dry food.
Where can I help?
Other Israelis simply came with a checkbook and asked what they could do to donate, and then wrote a check for several thousand shekels and disappeared. And that's how it was throughout the day. Representatives of the largest retail chains were not seen in the region, nor were representatives of the state. Maybe it should be, because this powerful event in the hangar is proof of how we can live here, if only we are not disturbed by the politicians.
"As soon as we saw that there was a shortage of people to pack, we stayed here to help," Photo: Gideon Markowitz,
"You have to go out for the soul. In any case, the feeling is that there is no one to rely on but our soldiers and ourselves", Zion: Gideon Markowitz,
Who were there? Secular and kippah-wearing, people who came from Givat Shmuel and the Tzahala neighborhood in Tel Aviv. Teens and children who do not have schooling and chose to volunteer with their parents. There were lawyers, there was a well-known football coach who came in his car and asked to drive a truck south, there were nurses who arrived after a long night shift at a hospital in the center.
Getting out of the shock
"Aren't you afraid to go down south?" I ask Liran, who came with his two children, teenagers from Herzliya who came to help with their father. "We have family in the south and as far as we're concerned, it's normal, but my wife doesn't know I'm going and I don't take the children with me anyway," he says.
His kids, on the other hand, are quick to take pictures and post on Instagram: "Come help," they write. Naomi, who came from Hod Hasharon, also decided she couldn't sit at home. She recruited her entire team to work from the high-tech company she works for: "We have no ability to work anyway, and we came because we felt we needed to contribute something. We bought things along the way and came here to get them, but as soon as we saw that there was a shortage of people to pack, we stayed here to help."
Despite the quiet with which things are done and cautious optimism, an air of sadness dominates the air, perhaps because almost everyone here knows someone who knows someone who has lost their life. As if coming here to the hangar is, for them, occupational therapy, a desire to get out of the shock and despair in front of the TV and into practical work. "How much you can be in front of the TV, you have to go out for your soul. In any case, the feeling is that there is no one to rely on except our soldiers and ourselves," they conclude.
Waiting for help
Every day the activity ends at 7 p.m., and according to the group that toiled there, "you always need more volunteers." In the morning from 7 o'clock there are waiting for you for help and donations.
For more information: To join Eran's Angels WhatsApp 052-6600447, for regular updates and requests for volunteering and donations. Please send messages, not call.
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