Send a Smile…and a Cookie

I can’t send Elie any of my homemade cookies and brownies, but here’s a really cute idea:

http://www.honestreporting.com/a/smilecampaign.html

Send a smile (and some cookies) to Israel’s soldiers – for free. Just click the link (I did), write your name and a note that will be sent to a soldier.

Today, my older daughter was walking and she stopped in a favorite bakery of ours. They had a sign that said they were collecting money to send cookies to soldiers in the south. Yesterday, they sent 3,000 cookies and today at least another 1,000.

On an email list for technical writers, someone posted asking for donations to send soldiers warm clothes. It reminded me of another question I hadn’t asked Elie – what is he doing for clean clothes? I didn’t ask him the particulars. One kind woman wrote to me, telling me she lives in the south and if I want, she could try to contact Elie and offer him some assistance.

I explained to her that Elie is in a closed military area and she wrote back that she LIVES in a closed military zone. Soldiers have been coming to her home; which she opened to allow them to take showers and rest.

I’d forgotten that part – people live there in that closed military zone. This war is taking place around people’s homes and lives and that’s why our soldiers are there. When I next speak to Elie, I’ll ask him about showers and see if he needs anything. It’s amazing to think that here this kind woman, who lives among rockets, is offering to help me (or at least Elie). But that is in so many ways, what defines this country.

The cookies…and the smiles. The offer of a shower or a kind word. I don’t know if Elie and the soldiers who are so busy now fully understand the support they have here and around the world. I’m storing this all up and when Elie comes home, I hope I’ll be able to show him the kind words, prayers and well wishes I have received from around the world.

6 Comments

  1. In August 2006 when my son came home from Lebanon after 12 straight days (he was let out early for his wedding), I asked him for his dirty washing. His answer was short and to the point, “Wait till I get undressed”. He wore the same clothes for 12 straight days (except for twice changing his socks). Maybe that’s the real reason behind the three hour truce yesterday – to give the soldiers time to shower 😉

  2. People can also help by contributing to Yashar LaChayal, a wonderful organization that brings the soldiers clean underwear (among many other basic necessities). Elie’s mother knows this organization well. She went up North delivering things to the soldiers during the 2006 Lebanon war. They deliver to the soldiers what they need, when they need it. Yashar LaChayal means “Direct to the Soldier”.

    You can contribute or volunteer through their website: http://yasharlachayal.org.

  3. Please know that I am praying not only for all of Israel’s sons and daughters that are at war, but also for those of you that are watching and waiting, attempting to go through the normal of your day. May G-d bring peace to Israel quickly.

    Sallye
    San Angelo TX

  4. Never doubt that Elie and his fellow precious sons and daughters have support from EVERYWHERE! Some of us out here ARE on the side of Israel – always.

    Praying, praying…

  5. A soldier’s mother may be happy to know that I had an opportunity to deliver those messages of encouragement from Honest Reporting on Friday (Jan 9–before Shabbat) to soldiers in Tze’elim Base very close to the Gaza Strip. The reserve soldiers that we met were in good spirits and very happy to know that, as of Friday, 15,000 people around the world has sent them messages of encouragement and prayers. But there is definitely a need for warm clothes. It’s cold at night!

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