“I loved it so I continued.”
Some people absolutely love volunteering and are the first to pitch in when help is needed. Others must warm up to the idea. Linoy Karan, a student at AMIT Wasserman Torah, Arts and Sciences High School for Girls, Ma’aleh Adumim, falls into the latter group.
A rising 11th grader, Linoy grew up in Israel after her parents made Aliyah from Iran. When she had to choose a place to do her required social involvement volunteer hours for school, her mother (who works in a supermarket) suggested the organization Sahi because she had seen them in action.
Sahi’s mission is to secretly deliver food to those in need. To facilitate this, once a week volunteers stand outside supermarkets collecting food donations from shoppers. On Thursdays the volunteers package everything and distribute the food around the city. They knock on doors and leave the parcels outside homes.
Average total of operational hours for Sahi – which is a Hebrew acronym for “Sayeret Hessed Yichudit,” or, “Special Hessesd Unit” – is about 12 hours a week. But Linoy, who lives in Ma’aleh Adumim, needs to take multiple buses to join the volunteers in Jerusalem, so she spends an additional six hours a week on transportation alone.
There are three levels of volunteers at Sahi: regular volunteers, young leaders, and chiefs. Typically, you need to be a regular volunteer for a year before moving up the ranks. Linoy, who only just began volunteering in March, is already a young leader.
“Honestly, I didn’t like to help too much. I liked doing things for myself. I started as part of my required volunteer hours. I finished my hours, but to my surprise, I realized that I loved it so I continued. Until you actually do it, you don’t understand what an amazing thing it is. It gives you a good feeling. I end the week having accomplished something and not just wasting it watching TV all day. Though I have to travel an hour and a half each way, it is worth every second.”
