March 23, 2020
Thankfully, the weather is getting warmer, which makes
driving also a bit more pleasant.
Today, Kochava and Benjamin were kept on their toes because
the ministry of welfare kept adding more orders for meals, changing them and driving them
crazy! The present two Dutch and one German volunteer just took it in their
stride and kept filling the plastic meal boxes until there was no food left.
After a lazy start we drove to the center of town to start
loading the biggest order of the day for Kiryat haYovel – 135 meals. As we
began filling the trunk of our car, we decided to add a few other deliveries as
well. We ended up with 290 meals, divided over bags of 10 each.
The new address in Kiryat Hayovel (we skipped yesterday) was
not far from our house. Ilana was very grateful when we arrived. “’Keep two meters
distance!” she greeted me near the front entrance. “What kind of kosher is the
food?” she wanted to know. Good question. Benjamin was able to answer all her
questions, but it showed us the need for some info, also about Hineni, to be
given with the meals.
Seeing all the empty space in the car, we decided to return
to Hineni to pick up the rest of the deliveries. It would also give the volunteers
and workers the opportunity to go home. Otherwise someone had to wait until we
came back from our second round.
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| Golden Age Home - Ramot |
Traffic was still light compared to a ‘normal’ day, and by
now we knew how to get to the address in Ramot without waze! 65 meals we put on
a bench near the entrance. Usually, those benches are occupied with elderly
keeping each other company and talking. Now, you hardly see them outside, nor
in the corridors.
Next stop hotel Tunik in Pisgat Zeev. This time, the 100
meals were for soldiers. Due to the virus, they must stay on their army basis
for a month on end instead of going home every weekend.
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| Retirement home in Pisgat Zeev - Tunik street |
This time, Armon haNatsiv was last on the list. At Hotel
Diplomat the shopping cart was already waiting for us, but we could only
deliver 60 instead of their requested 70 meals. The ladies were not too happy about
that!
At Canada Hostel, on the other side of the valley, Ruti
received her long-awaited meals and was so very grateful. Even though we could
only give Irena 35 instead of 50, she thanked us profusely.
Wow, we were done for the day! And it was only 1.30 p.m.!
As we drove home for some R&R, we thanked God for His
protection and mercies – that are new every morning!
