How it all began

In July, 2009 Oded Weiss and Avraham Hayon went to a neighborhood in Kiryat Gat, made a bonfire and coffee and then waited. After a while, a group of 7 teenagers that were outside in the streets at night, showed up to check who are these "strangers" that are invading their neighborhood. Oded and Avraham said that they want to help those who are most in need in the neighborhood, but they are not local, and need help. A conversation started about who in the neighborhood needs help, and what kind of help they need. They arranged a meeting for the following week - and the Special unit was created. In a clandestine, military like operation, a bag of food was given to a family that the teenagers located and selected.

That's how it all began.

The basic concept behind SAHI is to use food distribution as a tool for giving, through which youth begin to feel that they are meaningful as they open their hearts to positive adults in their environment. Oded thought of this idea while working in the "Kedma” Youth Village. Oded engaged the youth in a discussion of families living in hunger. Their reaction was: “we need to help these families. What can we do?” and so they started to distribute food together. The activity was conducted in the middle of the night, anonymously, with food packages being laid at the families’ doorsteps and without disclosing the identity of the givers. In the intimate environment created in the car while driving from one home to another, the youth began to share deeply personal, meaningful stories and feelings from their world. The “clandestine” night activity opened a window onto the inner lives of the youth and allowed them to open up their personal world to positive adult role models.