Tens of thousands of people have already signed up; find out all the details about National Volunteer Day
Tens of thousands of people have already signed up; find out all the details about National Volunteer Day
On December 7, the eve of the first candle of Hanukkah, One Heart organization is initiating a national volunteer day in cooperation with other civil society organizations, including 'Hashomer Hadash' and 'Brothers in Arms', alongside prominent Israeli high-tech companies. The purpose of the day is to celebrate the spirit of volunteerism and unity that has characterized Israeli society since October 7. "We urge everyone to join and register"
Lior Avisar
"On Sunday, October 8, every Israeli who did not go to reserve duty was looking for a place to volunteer," says Tomer Dror, co-founder of the civil aid organization One Heart (Lev Ahad). "Huge companies as individuals, no one was involved in politics or dividing things. Everyone was looking for a unifier and how they could help in the present situation. We want to return to the same point. To this end, One Heart initiated, together with Civilian Emergency HQ, the New Shomer, and other organizations, National Volunteer Day."
National Volunteer Day will be held on 7.12, the first candle of Hanukkah. As part of the program, tens of thousands of Israelis will volunteer on national missions. From agriculture to retirement homes, cleaning beaches in Eilat, and painting shelters. Any volunteering related to the fighting or evacuation zones. The goal is to renew the volunteer energies that existed on 7.10 and ensure that they continue for a year ahead. Return to resilience, to national unity. This is a unique partnership between several civil society organizations together with several prominent high-tech companies.
35,000 volunteers
One Heart is a national aid organization in emergency situations that, since 7.10, has activated over 35,000 volunteers in various missions through dozens of operations rooms throughout the country to respond to civilians and soldiers.
The organization was established in 2005 to help evacuees around the Gaza disengagement. In 2006, during the Lebanon War, the organization resumed its activities to help the civilian population. In normal times, "between crises," the organization lowers its activity until the next crisis. The organization is ostensibly supposed not to operate in times of quiet, but as we all know, there is always a crisis.
In 2021, the Russia-Ukraine war broke out. One Heart sent delegations on behalf of the organization, volunteered there for a year and a half, and even helped local bodies in Ukraine establish a parallel organization - "One Heart" Ukraine. For its humanitarian work on behalf of the Ukrainian population, the association received an award of appreciation from the Mayor of Lviv.
One Heart co-founder is Tomer Dror, 37, a father of four. Over the years, he has moved between two axes – social and business, as the owner of a political strategy and campaign management company. He has worked in Eastern Europe and for national and local politicians in Israel while managing the association.
Today, Tomer has left all his previous occupations in order to turn to work at One Heart.
After the experience in Ukraine and other crises, how did you react to 7.10?
On that Black Saturday morning, we understood that a deep crisis was beginning. Within 24 hours, we had opened four war rooms. Within two more days, there were already about twenty operations rooms nationwide that provided a response, 24/7, to all the needs that arose as a result of the fighting: assistance to the families of the abductees, assistance to the families of reservists, assistance to the families of the evacuees and, of course, to farmers.
How did the connection with high-tech come about?
"Our partnership with Fiverr and Monday began as a volunteer in the war in Ukraine, where we met Fiverr and CFO President Ofer Katz, who also traveled to volunteer with the refugees. As early as 7.10, Ofer showed up at the organization's offices and said he was harnessing the main high-tech companies for civilian volunteering during the war.
The High-Tech society has very high capabilities in technology, human capital, resources, and connections. When all the most senior people in high tech pitched in for civic action, it was a very significant force multiplier.
Wix and Monday contributed platforms, and in the first three weeks of the war, all of Fiverr's offices became the operations rooms of the One Heart organization. Other operations rooms in Tel Aviv operated on Monday and WeWork. From the first moment, we worked together with the business sector not only in terms of donations but also in terms of partnership in action and integration of capabilities.
Our challenge, that of Israel, is not for a month or two. It is a challenge for months ahead and, in some cases, for years ahead. We need and want Israeli industry, the spirit of volunteerism and giving, to go with us for a prolonged period of commitment."
How can I join National Volunteer Day?
"With Wix's amazing enlistment at lightning speed, we developed the platform where I call anyone who wants to sign up to volunteer>> You can choose a region and domain, sign up for a mission, and show up on the day itself, get a shirt, and start volunteering."
Can companies join, too?
Of course, high-tech companies are welcome to initiate and create tasks themselves. All the high-tech companies we cooperate with are already doing wonderful things. We are testing our ability to connect to the land and the land with their amazing capabilities in order to create long-term value that helps the State of Israel and the people of Israel.
And this whole operation for just one day?
Not at all. The intention is to lay here a broad model of civic cooperation for mobilization and volunteering that will continue in the coming months as well. Something profound changed in us on October 7th, and we want to reflect this in this mobilization, and not just on National Volunteer Day.
