KKL-JNF Workers Take Community Service to the Max

Contributing to the community and helping weaker segments of society are key values that stand at the core of the KKL-JNF Workers’ Union. This was especially apparent during the difficult Covid-19 period. While most people stayed home, KKL-JNF staffers pitched in to deliver food baskets to needy families and assist farmers with selling their produce, among other things.

 

 

“Our workers have a special characteristic that you won’t often find elsewhere. They have big hearts,” explained Yisrael Goldstein, Chairman of the KKL-JNF National Labor Union. “These are people who, because of their desire to contribute to the state and society, derive profound satisfaction from their work.”

While all of Israel was under lockdown due to the coronavirus’s spread, the union got in touch with a farmer from Moshav Yanuv in central Israel who, like many other Israeli agricultural entrepreneurs, found himself in trouble. “We bought boxes of fruit from him, combined them with other food baskets and donated bottles of wine and presented them to KKL-JNF workers who were in financial straits because of the crisis.”

KKL-JNF staff members volunteered to bring the gift-baskets in person to their colleagues’ homes. “When people who got the baskets called to say thank you, their voices were choked with tears,” recalls Goldstein, still visibly moved by the memory. “And also for those who delivered them it was a remarkable experience.”

Yisrael Goldstein, aged 50, has been working at KKL-JNF for almost 30 years. He started out as a heavy-machinery operator, after which he was appointed to the post of land overseer. In 1999 he was elected to the workers committee in northern Israel, and for the past five years he has been serving as chairperson of the KKL-JNF National Labor Union. He lives in Nahariya and is father to two daughters. “The older one is studying law and the younger one is in the army,” he said proudly.

Community involvement is an important issue for the KKL-JNF workers’ union, not just in times of crisis but also all year round. For example, when they held team-building activities in Eilat a few months ago, it was clear to everyone that they had to contribute in some way to the local community.

Said Goldstein: “Together with the Ro’i and Friends Association we rented another 30 hotel rooms for children who were ill, children with special needs, and lone soldiers. For three days, they were an inseparable part of our activities. Very sadly, we heard that one of the girls who had taken part passed away a few weeks ago. It’s like losing a family member.”

 

As KKL-JNF’s friends and partners around the world well know, opening your heart sometimes needs to be accompanied by opening your purse, too. When KKL-JNF workers heard the heartbreaking story of Adi Goldschmidt, a delightful 12-year-old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, they mobilized at once to help him: as Adi needs to take an expensive life-saving medicine, the workers donated 600,000 NIS worth of their holiday pay to offset the cost. Today Adi is a young up-and-coming standup performer who conquered the stage and captivated hearts when he appeared on “Israel’s Got Talent.”

 

 

The story of Salit Weitz similarly spurred KKL-JNF workers into action. This 29-year-old young woman, a member of Kibbutz Nir Am in the Gaza envelope, suffered a stroke several weeks after giving birth to her daughter. For two months, ventilated and unconscious, she fought for her life in an intensive care unit. KKL-JNF staff members did not remain indifferent to her fate, and organized a special benefit evening to raise funds for the young family.

In another case, a group of workers from the Implementation Unit raised funds for a lone soldier. When they arrived to present him with the donation, they were shocked by the dilapidated state of his home, and they resolved on the spot to personally take upon themselves the expense of its refurnishing and renovation. “These aren’t things that happen in a lot of other organizations,” says Goldstein.

Last year a serious fire broke out in Ben Shemen Forest and severely damaged a large number of homes in the nearby community of Mevo Modiim. Among those affected was a family with a daughter about to get married, who suddenly had no home to hold the celebrations. “We organized a shabbat chatan for them at KKL-JNF’s Nes Harim Field and Forest Center, and I can’t recall ever witnessing such great rejoicing,” says Goldstein.

“Our workers enlist in a number of KKL-JNF-initiated activities for the benefit of the community,” he continues. “Food distribution at Passover, and Purim baskets for sick children in hospitals and at-risk schoolchildren. We do all this discreetly, from a love of humanity. When we see the shining eyes of the recipients and experience the immediate effects of our activities, we realize how important our mission is.”