A Sunday flight to Ukraine departing from Ben-Gurion Airport was delayed by 15 minutes in order to deliver life-saving medicine to an Israeli man who lived in Odessa.
The driver who was meant to deliver the medicine was late and reached out to people in the WhatsApp group VIP 144, to delay the plane's takeoff.The group, created by Yaakov Menosa and Avi Kuzi, consisting of reporters and public relations personnel throughout Israel, was able to offer the mobile phone number of Ben-Gurion Airport director Shmuel Zaccai. When he understood the gravity of the situation, Zaccai ordered the flight to delayed until the driver arrived.
Thanks to that intervention, the driver was met by airport security personnel who helped him rush to the flight with the drug in tow. The sick man, Yair Lev was able to obtain the medicine and thanked his friends Ari Schwartz, Rabbi Abraham Wolf and Eli Gliebman for their assistance.
The airport spokesperson said that “in such crazy days, such actions become common – helping in any possible way.”
Menosa, who founded the group five years ago and saw its model replicated into 30 different groups, each focused on specific issues, was happy to hear Lev was helped adding that dozens of people are being helped by these groups every day.