S.1 Ep.3/ How Are You Here Right Now?
“Thousands of people around the world are dropping everything to come to Israel in the middle of a war zone.”
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Yocheved Kim Ruttenberg is a 23-year-old woman who sprang into action after the war broke out, raising thousands of dollars in donations. She came to Israel in late October and has been coordinating volunteer trips through the Sword of Iron volunteer Facebook group, which now has over 30,000 members.
“It all started on October 7th.... My gut was screaming at me to be in Israel during this time to be with my brother (who's in the IDF) - so I started fundraising for supplies. and came to Israel from LA with 23 bags for soldiers.
What was supposed to be a two-week adventure turned into three weeks, then four, and eventually a canceled flight.
I met Shay and Hagit through my brother, who has been instrumental in this group's growth and success.
When the war broke out, they jumped into action, getting tactical gear to units as quickly as possible. We decided we wanted to build a community of volunteers & make it easy to find quality opportunities, so we opened a Facebook page.”
Yocheved Ruttenberg
Host and creator: Manya Marcus
Managing producer: Maya Zanger-Nadis
Editor and producer: Ben Wallick
Logo design: Hallel Gradwohl and Maya Zanger-Nadis
Outro song: Pashut Hashir by Anat Malamud
Listen on Spotify or Apple Music