Maccabi World Union does its part to help northern families

Maccabi World Union's work with Jewish solidarity often gets overlooked.

By DAVID WISEMAN
In response to the crisis in the North, the Maccabi World Union has sent 3,000 care packages to families living there. More well known for its efforts in the field of sports, Maccabi World Union's work with Jewish solidarity often gets overlooked. Utilizing the support of the global Maccabi family, the call for help went out and packages were prepared and sent up North. "The mayors of Nahariya and Safed got in contact with us via the mayor of Ramat Gan and asked us if we could assist," Eyal Tiberger, director-general of Maccabi World Union, told The Jerusalem Post. "We undertook a world-wide campaign to raise thousands of shekels so we could send these personal care packages to ease the hardship of those suffering up there." In addition to food, care packages also contain sports equipment, toiletries, baby items and toys. More toys will be arriving on Thursday in a shipment from the community of Hong Kong, led by Rafi Aharoni. Some much-needed air-conditioners are also being sent to northern families. Maccabi missions visiting Israel from Great Britain and Brazil took time out from their limited stay in Israel to go to Kfar Maccabiah to assist in putting together the packages. That isn't the only effort members of the Maccabi family are making. A 24-member solidarity mission is coming from Moscow for a five-day tour. The mission includes players from the Maccabi Moscow soccer team led by Maccabi Moscow head Pavel Feldblyum. Other members include ice skating world champion Ilya Averbuch, legendary player Gennady Logofet and Alex Blavatnik. "The mission's goal is about solidarity with the State of Israel in this difficult time. Maccabi Moscow members frequently visit Israel and feel especially obliged to visit also during times of crisis to express the feelings of many Russians, both Jews and non-Jews," said Feldblyum. The mission will travel up North and meet city officials and Russian-speaking families with the hope of offering some form of tangible support. The soccer team members also plan to play a friendly with a team of new immigrants from Latin America.