Volunteers in Hollywood lead effort to help displaced families in Israel

The trucks kept coming and going all day, eighteen wheelers, arriving empty and leaving loaded with pallets of relief supplies.

It’s all going to Israel, mostly to civilians who lost their homes and many times, loved ones as well, during the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7. The goods are being collected, sorted, packed and loaded by volunteers from several organizations and anyone who wants to help.

“We have professionals, we have teachers, we have doctors, we have real estate guys, we have construction workers, we have moms, volunteers that just want to know what we can do to help,” said Tila Falic-Levy, who helped organize the effort.

There’s a need because when Hamas terrorists went on their killing spree, they decimated dozens of Israeli villages and towns. The civilians who survived the barbaric rampage are now displaced, more than 200,000 people, Israel says, who lost everything. 

The effort based in Hollywood has already shipped tons of supplies to Israel, and more are on the way.

“To say to them, even if you could do it all by yourself, you don’t have to, because we’re behind you all the way,” said Jeff Levin of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

“It’s incredible and it’s heartwarming,” said Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, the consul general of Israel.

Besides items like clothing, food, and construction supplies to rebuild communities, much of the shipments contain medical supplies destined for hospitals, according to the consul general.

“We often hear about the hospitals in Gaza, we don’t hear enough about the hospitals in Israel that have sustained attacks from Hamas, they’ve already been hit by 10 or 12 missiles,” Elbaz-Starinsky said.

Among those who volunteered today was a Holocaust survivor.

“All these people here, they deserve a medal,” said Ivan Gluck, who escaped the Nazis as a child in Hungary.

Wrapped in an Israeli flag, Gluck said he totally supports Israel’s fight against Hamas, saying it is good versus evil, but his perspective goes deeper.

“Nobody wins a war, everybody loses a war,” Gluck said. “Killing means more killing, for what? A human life is a human life, Palestinian and Israeli, and I love all people,” Gluck said.

I asked him if the surge in antisemitism worldwide and in the United States scares him.

“It scares me a lot, because 75 or 80 years ago, the same thing happened in Europe,” Gluck said.

Gluck told us he hopes the world sees what is happening and takes action, so history doesn’t repeat itself.

The relief effort in Hollywood will go on, the organizers say, until the need is gone.