Shaked Kramer ‘23

Posted on November 3, 2023

The war caught us all off guard. Five missiles fell on my town, damaging houses and cars, but luckily no one here was harmed. The sirens, the noises of planes and missiles falling (we call this the “booms”), and grief: this has accompanied us all every day since October 7th. We have felt helpless because of this horrible situation, so we did and are still doing our best to try and contribute to the war effort.

For my part, I started a WhatsApp group for teens in my small town who want to volunteer, and it quickly grew to around 500 members. In this group, we visit the elderly, and mainly connect people who need babysitters, dog sitters, help in agriculture, or a helping hand around the house, to teens that want to help, and we don’t charge for it. On top of all that, a friend and I organized a food donation program for soldiers, and we ended up sending them about 70 boxes filled with hot, hearty, nutritious meals. We’ve also been baking cakes and pastries for families with members serving in the army, reserves, or police force. But even with all these good deeds, things are still so hard… Two weeks ago, my father volunteered for the army. Suddenly, from being in the position of baking cakes for other families, my family was receiving them. The change was weird and felt unbelievable. I considered stopping volunteering and doing more to help my mother with the responsibilities at home but decided to try and combine the two.

As a result, last week my friends and I organized activities for the kids in the shelters at our school. It’s a way to ease the load on parents during these tough times. At my school, Keshet High School in Mazkeret BatyaBatia, we have been having Zoom meetings with people all over the world to try and explain to them what we are going through. All these acts of kindness not only lighten the load, but they also show the incredible strength of unity.