Pizza During the Second Intifada
Australian native Menachem Kuchar made aliyah with his family from Australia to Efrat. In 2001, at the start of Operation Defensive Shield, Menachem founded pizzaIDF to send pizza and treats to the soldiers protecting Israel.
Back before there were online payment apps and social media, Menachem built a website and opened a call center in his home. People who wanted to send pizza to soldiers would call Menachem and give him their credit card number over the phone, and Menachem would purchase the pies and coordinate their delivery .
In 2012, after a decade of service, Menachem handed over the reins of pizzaIDF to his son, Elisha. An army veteran, Elisha understood that many of the pizzas sent by pizzaIDF ended up in army headquarters, and not with the soldiers serving in the field. Elisha was determined to make sure that the pizzas arrived at their intended destinations, bringing encouragement to the soldiers in need of warm food and a pick-me-up.
Today, Elisha runs this volunteer operation with his wife, Tanya. When he’s not on reserve duty, Elisha does consulting work in Africa, and Tanya is a lawyer.
Over the years, pizzaIDF has experimented with sending different types of foods to soldiers, including falafel and shawarma. But they keep coming back to pizza, which can be neatly transported. Pizza shops are ubiquitous in all areas of the country, making it logistically easy to order and deliver pizzas to wherever soldiers are stationed.
pizzaIDF Throughout the Year
During routine times, the army only accepts donations that have been transferred through The Association for Israel’s Soldiers. Early on, pizzaIDF learned that they could continue serving soldiers under the radar, so long as they remained a small operation. Over the course of a year they would send a few hundred pizzas to soldiers. On holidays they would increase their operations, sending sufganiyot on Chanukah, as well as special care packages on Purim and Rosh Hashana. They would send challah and soup in the winter, and ice cream in the summer. But as their name suggests, pizza has always been pizzaIDF’s main focus.
The IDF relaxes the rules for donations during times of war, so in 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, pizzaIDF sent out more than 10,000 pies in just 33 days.
Pizza During the Iron Swords War
Elisha was called up to serve in the army at the onset of the war. He joined forces with the Iron Israel program of the PFAP Foundation which expanded pizzaIDF’s capacity to raise money. Since the outbreak of the war, they have raised approximately $250,000, sending 40,000 pies to troops stationed in Gaza, on the Northern border, and wherever else they are serving. The money raised is immediately sent back out in the form of pizza and treats for soldiers. pizzaIDF is now raising money for Chanukah donuts. They make sure to pay attention to the units that haven’t received any extra treats or barbeques.
pizzaIDF has built relationships with pizza shop owners and delivery companies throughout the country, enabling them to order anytime and send anywhere. This is a win-win situation which both gives food to soldiers and provides business for restaurants, who are struggling financially due to the war.
Elisha is heroically running pizzaIDF from his post in the army. He uses his phone to monitor incoming donations and outgoing pizzas, and a group of volunteers helps to coordinate the ordering and delivery. During calmer times, pizzaIDF would put stickers with QR codes on the boxes that linked to the donor’s email address so that soldiers could send a thank you. With such a dramatic increase in activity during the war, there is no time to print stickers, so pizzaIDF asks soldiers to send a quick thank you note or video which they can relay to donors.
Since it has been serving troops for over two decades, pizzaIDF is well known amongst donors and IDF units, who call upon them when they want to treat their soldiers. pizzaIDF gets requests from parents who want to send pizza to their children and their unit who are serving. The families don’t always know where their child is located, but if they can provide pizzaIDF with the phone number of a commander, the organization makes the effort to get the pizzas delivered to the right place.
As the war extends into Chanukah and the winter months, pizzaIDF is looking for more donors who can help feed and boost the morale of those who are protecting Israel.
The Project:
pizzaIDF is raising funds to supply as many soldiers as it can with pizza and other treats. Their team of 6 volunteers are committed to supplying pizza to any unit that requests it, if they have the financial means to do so.
How to Give:
pizzaIDF has teamed up with the PFAF Foundation to provide donors with tax deductible receipts in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Click here to donate
Kosher Status:
The pizzaIDF initiative was founded in 2002 as a community initiative. Due to the alignment of their core operations with the needs of the Iron Swords War, their scale has dramatically increased. For the Iron Swords War, they have partnered with Passion For A Purpose Foundation to accept tax deductible donations overseas. Passion For A Purpose Foundation has generously absorbed processing fee costs until the end of 2023, so 100% of donations go to pizzaIDF. There are no salaried employees, so all of the donations go straight towards serving the soldiers. pizzaIDF prepares weekly expense reports and oversight is conducted by Passion For A Purpose Foundation.
Fine Print:
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