Standing Together’s mission is to give the worldwide community an opportunity to show our appreciation to the young men and women of the Israel Defense Forces. Standing Together, run almost entirely by volunteers, includes as many people as possible in expressing gratitude to the soldiers who risk their lives everyday for the safety of the people, visitors and holy places of Israel. With our truck and Hospitality Trailer, Standing Together volunteers visit IDF soldiers regularly to offer support, gratitude, treats, hot and cold drinks and smiles. This encourages the soldiers to keep up their hard work. Standing Together is constantly looking for new ways to make a difference in the lives of those who make a difference in Israel.

Its been raining for 3 straight days in the Jerusalem area. Its so cold that the stone walls mean that even inside people are wearing sweatshirts. Our brave young soldiers are outside, guarding our borders for 12-18 hour shifts. They are guarding our checkpoints and keeping our people safe but they are shivering. The costs of military equipment has gone up, so have the worldwide threats to our nation. The IDF must choose to spend their limited funds on thing like technology and tanks, not state of the art thermal underwear and gloves that allow the soldiers to be warm and trigger-ready at the same time. Parents all over the world provide their children with the winter clothing they need. Parents who cannot provide these things have organizations to turn to for help. Our soldiers should be as important to us as our own children. Many army units do not allow for one soldier to receive these items from their families if others are not able to. Standing Together provides for the entire unit according to the needs as recognized and approved by the IDF. So far this winter, we have purchased and distributed over 4000 pairs of gloves, over 1000 fleece jackets, over 1000 thermals and over 1000 neck warmers. We truly appreciate all the donations we have received that have allowed us to get to this point. The winter is far from over and the requests are continuing to arrive regularly. We have decided to forgo all other fundraising projects in order to focus on meeting these needs. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to double what we have already distributed.