In July, 2009 Oded Weiss and Avraham Hayon went to a neighborhood in Kiryat Gat, made a bonfire and coffee and then waited. After a while, a group of 7 teenagers that were outside in the streets at night, showed up to check who these “strangers” are that are invading their neighborhood. Oded and Avraham said that they want to help those who are most in need in the neighborhood, but they are not local, and need help. A conversation started about who in the neighborhood needs help, and what kind of help they need. They arranged a meeting for the following week — and the Special unit was created. In a clandestine, military like operation, a bag of food was given to a family that the teenagers located and selected.
That’s how it all began.
The basic concept behind SAHI is to use food distribution as a tool for giving, through which youth begin to feel that they are meaningful as they open their hearts to positive adults in their environment. Oded thought of this idea while working in the “Kedma” Youth Village. Oded engaged the youth in a discussion of families living in hunger. Their reaction was: “we need to help these families. What can we do?” and so they started to distribute food together. The activity was conducted in the middle of the night, anonymously, with food packages being laid at the families’ doorsteps and without disclosing the identity of the givers. In the intimate environment created in the car while driving from one home to another, the youth began to share deeply personal, meaningful stories and feelings from their world. The “clandestine” night activity opened a window onto the inner lives of the youth and allowed them to open up their personal world to positive adult role models.
Ofri Butbul of SAHI was given one of Israel’s highest honors and selected to light a torch at Israel’s national ceremony on Independence Day
Ofri Butbul, 18 years old from the southern city of Ofakim, was selected to light a torch in the prestigious Israeli Independence Day national ceremony. Ofri has been volunteering in SAHI for two years, and as part of her volunteering was accompanying a lonely elderly person who collapsed. When he did not answer his phone, Ofri and her friends from SAHI went over to his house and called the police that broke into his house and saved his life.
“I’m still processing it, can’t put it into words. It’s a great honor for me and for SAHI. I started volunteering two years ago, after my older brother. When we moved to Ofakim, he told me that a SAHI group is opening in Ofakim, and that I should join. I joined him to SAHI’s first activity in Ofakim. It gives such a sense of contentment and meaning. It’s hard not to get hooked. After the incident, it took us a while to process what happened. I didn’t really understand the importance at the time”, said an excited Ofri.
The ministers in charge of the ceremony, minister of transportation Regev and minister of Culture and Sports Tropper mentioned: “Ofri embodies the Israeli spirit of volunteerism and comradeship. She represents the values of giving of the younger generation in Israel’s new centers that were once called a periphery. “