In January, AIC goes back to Israel. Cheryl Dorchinsky, our Founder and Executive Director, and Kirsten Abrahamson, our Treasurer, land on Monday, 11 January and fly home on Friday, 22 January. It’s our sixth direct-aid mission since October 7.
“People ask me why we keep going back,” Cheryl says. “Because they’re still there. Families on the Gaza border came home and are rebuilding. Soldiers still stop at Shuva Junction for a hot meal and dry socks. The wounded are still in rehab, learning to walk again. The headlines moved on. We didn’t.”
They don’t go empty-handed. Before they fly, we put out a list of what’s needed and they carry it over in suitcases. The list comes from the people we work with in Israel, because they’re the ones who know which family needs what.
One stop is already on it. On October 7, 2023, the wounded from the kibbutzim and the Nova festival were brought to Shuva Junction, near the Gaza border, for the helicopters. People from the Shuva community came out with food, drinks, and shade, and they never stopped. Achim Shuva has fed and supplied soldiers on their way in and out of Gaza ever since. AIC volunteers restocked it in December 2025.
“I promised them we’d be back, and we keep our promises,” Cheryl says. “That closet should never be empty.”
What you give for relief goes to relief
Cheryl and Kirsten pay their own way, tickets and all. Our goal is $10,000. Give once or monthly, and pick Missions & Humanitarian Relief so we keep it for this work.
Rather send the thing itself?
Our Amazon wish list is what goes in the suitcases. At the top are IFAK trauma kits, the first-aid kit a soldier carries on their body. We can use as many as you can send. There are also warm winter socks for the closet at Shuva, kosher protein bars, electrolyte mix, solar power banks so a soldier in the field can call home, and LEGO for soldiers recovering in rehab. Order by Friday, 1 January so it reaches Cheryl before she leaves.
Got an Amazon gift card sitting in a drawer? Send it to shalom@atlantaisrael.org and we’ll use it to buy what’s on the list.
“You don’t have to write a big check to be part of this,” Cheryl says. “A pair of socks, a trauma kit, a gift card you forgot you had. Every bit of it ends up with someone who needs it, and I hand over what we bring myself.”
Watch: Five missions since October 7, and we’re going back
While they’re in Israel, Cheryl and Kirsten will post from the road. Follow AIC on Facebook and Instagram, or get the AIC Dispatch in your inbox.
