Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Feeding the Troops

What a great day The 2 Spies had yesterday. Yom Ha'atzmaut~ Israel's 66th Birthday. Normally on this day we join with our thousands of Israeli neighbors and have a grand cookout, doing our part to add to the air pollution of the day with our Bar-b-Que fires. Due to a communication glitch and thinking that all the family was headed in different directions, we made plans to head to the army bases instead.

We had a marvelous day with our soldiers. We joined up with Standing Together a non-profit that started by taking pizzas to the soldiers at their checkpoint stations and has moved on to expand to filling other needs. The main focus is the soldier and letting them know that we love and support them. Here is a list of some of the things Standing Together does:

  • Donating mini-fridges and microwaves for hospital rooms of  wounded soldiers.
  • Presented wounded soldiers with personalized bathrobes.
  • Rosh Hashanah Greeting Cards via Email so that thousands of people all over the world can participate
  • Mobile cell phone charging unit.
  • Treats and pizza pies for soldiers at the front.
  • Underwear and toiletries for soldiers during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and the 2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
  • Warm clothes for hundreds of soldiers serving on our borders in the winter.
  • Independence Day barbecues at army bases and checkpoints.
  • National Donut Week Chanukah Parties at Army Bases.
  • Challot from Sderot.
  • Mishloach Manot Purim Packages.
  • Ice Cream Days in the Summer.
  • A special CD recording of the priestly blessings was distributed to soldiers to give them spiritual strength.
We also joined in with our friend Dr Jazz who plays Dixieland music and entertains the troops.As we stood back and watched all the goings on (and taking photos) we were touched again with what a bracha it is to live here in the Land. To watch 'our' sons just being able for a moment to be 'boys'~ eat lots of food, be a little silly and dance, mess around with the soccer ball and the volunteers children. But all the time we could still see the mantel they have chosen to carry. The burden of being our shomrim.  Their deep dedication to the task at hand knowing they have a long way to go and that they are carrying a great responsibilty on their young shoulders was more than touching for us. It was a great reminder to us who we are praying for and why. A great encouragement to continue to pray for them daily.






3 comments:

  1. What beautiful faces! Even as much as our young troops in the US, they guys (and gals) hold up the protective "wall" that will be needed -- at least until the Messiah's return!

    ReplyDelete
  2. i wish i could have been there for this. all i can do is pray, but if there is someway i can email to soldiers on active duty like penpals, let me know. i have lots of free time and want something constructive spiritually to do with it. blessings on all that you spies are doing, and may YHWH keep you safe surrounded by his wings of shalom.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments. Your post will appear soon.