When Hodaya Edelman of Efrat first took action to help IDF soldiers, she might not have realized how deeply she’d end up getting involved.
Edelman, originally from Highland Park, New Jersey, was initially interested only in helping a friend locate helmets for his army unit. In the process, she connected with Unit 11741, which is fundraising in the Upper West Side and sending equipment to Israel. Daniel Mael, head of Unit 11741, has helped hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but is a one-person operation.
Edelman’s contacts led her to a warehouse in the Old City of Jerusalem where a woman was dispensing supplies. Edelman asked: “Do you need help?” The woman (who asked to remain anonymous) said: “Yes!” The warehouse closed shortly afterwards because the operators couldn’t pay the rent. Yet Edelman’s cell phone number started circulating, because of her offer to help.
In short order, she started hearing from soldiers, and their parents, who were urgently seeking much-needed supplies, especially tactical gear. She learned of more and more pressing needs and reached across her network to request funds and locate supplies. And she slowly developed an expertise in finding those supplies. “I try to help each and every soldier who reaches out—independent of their unit,” Edelman said. “I first vet that the request is factual. I look to find the best solution. A soldier will come to me with a long list of very expensive equipment and I will try to understand what they do, prioritize what’s most urgent, and find the most affordable solution.”
One problem Edelman encountered was that potential donors sought the capability to write off their gifts as a tax deduction, something she couldn’t offer as an independent operator. It took her months but she finally located two nonprofits that would accept contributions to secure army supplies on her behalf—Bergen County Lev Echad and the Chesed Fund of Bergen County, New Jersey.
Edelman reports that, as of now, she has assisted hundreds of soldiers and helped locate, fund and secure a wide variety of military supplies. Yet with the war continuing in Gaza, in Yehuda and Shomron, and now in Lebanon as well, the IDF soldiers’ needs are still quite strong and run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“There has understandably been huge donor fatigue, so it’s extremely hard to secure donations these days,” Edelman said. “In Israel, a lot of these reservists’ businesses have crashed; they are in debt; they are watching their friends die before their eyes; they are seeing horrible things, have PTSD; and they are emotionally and physically exhausted. They are heroes and they need us now more than ever.”
To support Edelman’s work on behalf of IDF soldiers, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/2fnptwak
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Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes readers’ feedback.
