“Prepare a meal for a senior? No problem. Give me the address and I’ll deliver it, too.” Avigayil is one of Linked to Life’s indefatigable volunteers, who can always be counted on for a mission. Meal in hand, she entered the home of the senior. “Shall I put it in the fridge for you for later or would you like me to heat it up for you now?” He stood there unable to respond other than an “Ummm…”
“How about if I turn on the light. We can visit for a while if you like. “Avigayil flicked the switch but the room remained dark.
“There’s no electricity,” he mumbled helplessly. ”There hasn’t been any for awhile…”
Avigayil was flabbergasted. In this day and age?! A helpless senior who, while only 64, looked more like 87 and suffered from almost every senior ailment in the book?! Avigayil left the meal on the table and rushed out to procure an emergency light. Next step was to recharge his cell phone so he’d have contact with the world. Still in shock, she called the director of Ezer Mizion’s Linked to Life who got right on it and spoke to the higher ups at the electric company. Soon the refrigerator began to buzz and a cheerful glow of light permeated the apartment. A social worker was assigned to see to a myriad of his other needs. “He needed a meal, and he got an upgrade in life. No, he got life itself!”
Yitzchok’s schedule is tight but the wants to help and registered with Linked to Life. He volunteered to pick up a father who was accompanying his cancer stricken son for treatment at the hospital. He would drop them off at an intersection near his office in Ashdod where another volunteer would pick them up and drive them to the clinic in Tel Aviv. He looked aghast at his charges as they gratefully entered the car. It was a cold, rainy day – the kind that makes you want to stay home under a warm blanket with a hot cup of coffee in your hand. But the twosome could not stay home. And so there they were, waiting for their ride, the father with thin, shabby clothing and torn shoes, the child in sandals, without even a sweater to protect him, both thanking him over and over as they maneuvered their shivering bodies into the welcome warmth of his car.
Sometimes schedules are made to be broken. Yitzchok canceled the second driver and drove them to the clinic in Tel Aviv himself. How could he make them wait again in the cold for the second driver, even if it were only three minutes?! He parked as close as possible to the clinic entrance and soon as they had closed the car door, his fingers dialed the familiar Ezer Mizion number. it wasn’t long before all of the members in the sick boy’s family received two pairs of shoes: one for weekday and one for Shabbos plus a full winter wardrobe, from head to toe…
Because Ezer Mizion is there when it hurts!
Test tubes had to be delivered asap from an army base in Eilat to Tel Aviv. Two volunteers were procured but their timetables could not coordinate. Time was running out. What to do? Another request went out and was answered by someone who ‘just happened’ to be in Eilat for an appointment. When she heard the address, she nearly shouted into the phone, “You won’t believe this but not only am I ‘coincidentally’ in Eilat just when I am needed but I am 30 seconds away! Ask them to bring it outside. I’ll probably be there before them.”
When we go above our limit, help from Heaven pours down.
And so It all begins and ends with really caring — that is what links us all to life!
