volunteer – Ezer Mizion

Angels from Heaven

An Ezer Mizion ‘stranger’ becomes family

She was eighty years old. Life was difficult. But a home attendant? “Never! I don’t want a stranger in my home!” But things got worse and ‘never’ became ‘maybe’. Ezer Mizion’s Home Attendant Division was contacted and Tzivia entered Sara’s home. One year later on Chanukah, Tzivia found balloons awaiting her as she entered. “These are for you,” Sara smiled. “For you, my Chanukah miracle. Since you came, I felt I have a daughter. Today our friendship is a year old, and I, too, feel like I am a year old, because I am a new woman since you entered my world.” Several days later, Sara fell and broke her arm. The ambulance came but Sara did not go alone. Tzivia accompanied her, spent hours of her free time in the ER with her. It was not long before Tzivia’s husband arrived at the ER to bring them both food and drink. Still retaining her independent streak, Sara was appalled, “I feel so bad that your husband had to go through so much trouble just because of me.”

“If I am your daughter, he is your son-in-law. We’re your family. Family members help each other. “

Sara was too choked up to reply but her eyes said it all as she gazed with wonderment at her family, the ‘strangers’ she had not wanted to allow into her home.

A father is battling cancer. Their situation was heartbreaking: The mother was torn between hospital, where her husband needed her attention, and home where their five children, two of them with special needs, were left alone at home for hours, without proper meals, supervision or occupation. Ezer Mizion got to work… Our fantastic volunteers contacted the director of Ezer Mizion’s services for children with special needs, who arranged for the girls to go to an afternoon club, complete with meals, help with schoolwork, and quality attention until five in the afternoon.

Two volunteers visited the parents in the ward, bringing cake and support, showering them with warm encouragement.

Ezer Mizion’s Linked to Life took care of delivering hot meals cooked by Ezer Mizion volunteers to the house on a regular basis.

A home had been on the verge of collapse. Now it was shorn up with planks of love and compassion. The wife of the cancer patient couldn’t stop thanking Ezer Mizion for all this magical support that descended upon her!

From the Ezer Mizion Inbox:

Our family is dealing with my cancer which is so stressful for everyone. Between not knowing if mommy will be home when they get home from school to having to eat strangers’ food, life has become unpredictable for my kids.

You can imagine our surprise when someone came to our door on Chanukah with two big bags for the kids (treats and presents!).

Thank you for bringing a smile to my children’s faces and may you continue to do your holy work.

All the best,

Sarah B.

A Linked to Life Volunteer

“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…”

A Small Drink…A Big Thank You

lk del ok to use — Hot meals delivered to family members at the bedside of the seriously ill

It was a normal day. Just like every other Wednesday. Miriam* got the kids off to school, straightened out the house, put in a load of laundry and then left for her volunteer job delivering hot meals to families spending hours at a hospital bedside. Continue reading A Small Drink…A Big Thank You

Nightmare: the Common Denominator

pr summer — Giving bits and pieces of childhood back to kids that have lost theirs

It’s 1:30 on a long summer Friday afternoon. There are twelve vehicles parked in the parking lot of Park Enav in Modi’in. The doors open and fifty-eight (!) children burst out of the cars ready for an afternoon of fun. Who are they?

Each one has a different story but the common denominator is that each one is living through a nightmare that no child should ever know. One has lost a parent to cancer, another is battling cancer himself and a third came home one day to find that his mother had gone on a simple shopping trip never to come home again due to a terror attack. Continue reading Nightmare: the Common Denominator

Caring for the Caretaker

Many years ago there had been a place called Lottie’s kitchen. It was a small kitchen in a home teeming with chessed. Lottie, a culinary expert, produced trays and trays of goodies which were largely consumed by her many friends. They would gravitate to this island of warmth and compassion to discuss their personal woes with a woman who seemed to have never-ending patience.

pr lk pix preparing food — Volunteering at Lottie’s Kitchen

Lottie and her husband and partner in chessed, Chaim, have since passed on. Their four daughters deemed it appropriate to found Lottie’s Kitchen in Israel under the auspices of Ezer Mizion. It is there that nutritious, attractive meals are produced, packed and delivered to family members sitting at the bedside of a hospitalized loved one. Women of all ages volunteer– from teens to the sprightly 85-year-old golden-ager who makes her way to Lottie’s Kitchen with a walker. She had been a chef in her younger years. Her day at Lottie’s Kitchen enables her to make use of her skills and offer advice to the younger set. For the elderly, it is a two-way chessed as it enables them to have structure to their day and meet with similarly minded women as they work.

pr lk 2012 1440_ne_photo_stories3_ae974 — Lottie’s Kitchen volunteers delivering meals to family members at bedside of hospitalized patient

Israel hospitals do not provide more than basic medical care for its patients. The nursing staff is unable to take the time for the little extras that can make all the difference to a patient’s spirit. A family member therefore, tries to be there for as much as possible of the 24-hour day. Running from work responsibilities to home responsibilities and then making a mad dash to take over a shift at the hospital does not leave the caretaker much time or emotional space to even think of her own needs. A coke and a bag of chips from the hospital vending machine will often be her only fare for weeks. Distraught, tense, worn out, a mother will sit with her six year old, trying to distract him from the constant question of “Mommy, when will Hashem make the leukemia go away?”

And then, like an angel, there enters a Lottie’s Kitchen volunteer with a steaming hot, delicious meal. She’ll offer her a chance to talk, to share her story, to ask advice. Mommy can’t believe it. Someone is caring for the caretaker!

Orders are filled – some of them very specific. Any meals left over at the end of the day will be given to the dialysis patients who find it so difficult to go back to normal routine just hours after treatment.

Nechama, the head cook, considers herself just a small cog in the wheel of chessed. But those at Lottie’s Kitchen know that it is she that creates the ambience of giving, of loving. More and more. The Lottie’s Kitchen Family was treated to a trip to pray at the holy places in Israel. Nechama would have loved to join but she realized she would have to cut corners in her cooking. To give ‘her’ people anything less than perfection was unthinkable. So she opted out, citing a quote from the Chofetz Chaim’s book, Ahavas Chessed, that doing chessed is an especially opportune time to pray. ”I won’t lose out at all,” she assured her friends as they boarded the bus.

Lottie’s Kitchen, one of the many divisions of Ezer Mizion, an empire of chessed.

The Negev Comes to Life

The Bet Moriah Community Collaborates with Ezer Mizion- Negev on Behalf of Patients in the South

In light of the increase in the number of patients in Beersheba and the environs and a sharp rise in their needs, representatives of Ezer Mizion-Southern Region approached the Bet Moriah community and suggested a collaboration between Ezer Mizion and community volunteers. Continue reading The Negev Comes to Life

Of Saving Lives and Beeping Phones

pr L2L Meir Quinn — Meir Quinn, Director of Linked to Life Saving Lives around the Globe

Mazel tov’s were resounding in room after room as newborns arrived to the joy of their families. But one room was quiet. A new baby was born but something was wrong. It seemed to be a heart defect. The doctors conferred. Top Israeli pediatric cardiologists were called in for consultations. The defect was a rare one and none of the specialists had any experience with it. A solution had to be found soon. Rabbi Shimon Rogoway, Director of Ezer Mizion’s Medical Referral Department, was brought into the picture. “Yes, I do know of a doctor who has experience in this type of defect but he’s in Boston. Continue reading Of Saving Lives and Beeping Phones

So, So Much More

Written by an Ezer Mizion volunteer who gained more than she gave during the months that she sat at Leah’s bedside.

We stood at the door, needy and poor

Searched for words, but none would appear.

For you, Leah, mere words could never express,

Just a hot and glistening tear.

For whatever we’d say, any words we’d outpour

You were so, so much more…

A mother and daughter, sister and wife,

Your “flock” always there at your side,

With devotion and will, and always so calm,

Your children you gently would guide.

You had such a pure and pleasant demeanor,

Your genuine joy captivated.

You knew to be silent, even in pain,

A true inner wholeness radiated

I felt your strong image obligating us all,

For we saw a life story of courage,

A tale – short, yet long – from which we must learn,

An epic to urge and encourage.

I saw your figure arousing, demanding –

So simple, yet sincerely so pure.

Teaching: What value has a transient world

Versus Torah heights that endure?

I merited seeing how one can and must

Live with rivers of flowing love

For every mitzvah, for each creature,

And for the Creator above.

I had a walking textbook before my eyes,

Of how to feel the pulse of time as it flies.

Pearls carefully strung, pieces of life

Stories too many to count,

You were… You said…

You left us a legacy…

A wondrous lifetime account.

Volunteering at your bedside was a privilege indeed,

Your radiant character inspiring,

Days and nights, how you hoped and believed,

I was awed by your faith, never tiring.

You lay in your bed, wounded and aching,

Your body, in agony and pain

Yet you did all to give a good feeling, a sweet,

Thanking us again and again.

As the sand in your hourglass neared to its end,

You knew how to utilize your time.

To inquire about our new job, a shidduch to suggest,

As if you were feeling in your prime.

Your modesty was rare, O, what a loss!

You were a sacrifice, for the rest to atone.

They surely rejoiced up Above when you came,

But, Leah, we were left here, alone!

We’ve lost mother and daughter, sister and wife,

Our finest, alas, has moved on!

Our heads are bowed, we weep on end,

The “thorns” need their “rose,” but she’s gone…

I know that the prayers and the tears that were shed

Carved into our hearts their impression

They built and transformed, worked wonders indeed,

With their painful, yet penetrating lesson.

For, we, too, want to be pure as were you,

To rise above matter, beyond “why”

And, like Leah, to amass innumerable merits,

To lead a life of truth, to try.

The final lines, the music fades,

The tears are reluctantly dried.

I’ve written and shared, yet my words cannot paint

Your greatness – I’m just not qualified

No, I just couldn’t capture your towering image,

Not your life, nor the secret of who you are.

All we can do is to learn and to yearn

To be like you, though we are so far.

See, Leah, the fruits of your labor,

The light that you kindled still glows

It continues to shine and illuminate

The Kiddush Hashem yet grows.

The paths that you blazed, rare in their beauty

Many more will yet tread them again,

For this path is not far, it’s within our reach

“Yisgadal v’yiskadash shmei rabbah,” Amen.

A Volunteer Wonders What Happens Afterwards

cell-phone — A response usually arrives within minutes by one of our eager volunteers

What happens afterwards? The thousands of members of Ezer Mizion’s Linked to Life, a WhatsApp group, routinely answer each beep of their phone to see if they are able to respond to the next emergency. They probably wonder what happens after they pick up vital medication or drive someone to a hospital. Read on to see what happened after one Linked to Life volunteer responded to a request to drive a group of volunteers to Rambam Hospital. Continue reading A Volunteer Wonders What Happens Afterwards

Their Role/ Our Role

I’ll admit it. I had a negative thought there for a moment. I picked up a woman at one of the major hospitals and drove her miles to the city in which she lived. For an instant, I couldn’t help wondering why she called for a volunteer. Couldn’t she have gone by bus? She looked fine, spoke in an upbeat manner, even joked a bit. I’m happy to help people out. After all, that’s why I joined Ezer Mizion’s Linked to Life but from what I could see, I wondered if she really needed help. Continue reading Their Role/ Our Role