IsraAID Deploys Volunteers to Southern California for COVID-19 Relief

With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, Los Angeles pediatrician Dr. Lucy Uber has been dividing her time between working in urgent care, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles’ emergency room, her private practice and, most recently, volunteering at local food pantries as an IsraAID volunteer.

“Every day it seems like there are more and more people coming [to the pantry],” Uber told the Journal. “I have a little guilt. I trained in New York. The hospital I trained at has been very much on the front lines … Everyone I know is really truly in the thick of it and I felt like I wanted to do more to help the people around me.”

Uber is one of a handful of local IsraAID volunteers working to provide emergency relief to low-income families and people in need during COVID-19.

The Israeli-based nongovernmental organization adapted its work to address COVID-19 relief. It is currently supporting more than 15 countries, including the United States, affected by both the pandemic and ongoing humanitarian crises.

Uber first became involved with IsraAID in 2018. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she wanted to pay it forward to her community during COVID-19. “That’s kind of the point of why we are all here, to help each other and make something of the world we live in,” she said. “I think every person comes here with a gift and we need to figure out our role in the world and share whatever you have with other people.”

IsraAID U.S. Executive Director Seth Davis told the Journal IsraAID has been supplying volunteers and resources to the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Drawing on their experience with the Ebola outbreak, they’ve been using similar methods to prevent the spread of COVID-19 around the world since January, starting in China, by building containment spaces for patients.

“It gave our team members the opportunity to be at the forefront, to put out notices on what to do to prepare, how to protect yourself, how to shift programs to be remote to children,” Davis said. “We actually installed water and sanitation stations to areas that didn’t have access to water. It’s been really rewarding to help on that level.”

“[IsraAID] has been deployed already for over a month. A lot of members of the Jewish community have stepped up from various shuls to a coalition we’ve built with 50 different Jewish-based organizations.”  — Seth Davis

In Los Angeles, because the demand for food pantries nearly has quadrupled since the outbreak of the virus, IsraAID wanted to help, particularly because the number of people who usually step up to help has diminished because of social distancing and fear of catching or spreading the virus. So Davis deployed a volunteer network in partnership with 50 organizations including Moishe House and Repair the World.

“We’ve been deployed already for over a month. A lot of members of the Jewish community have stepped up from various shuls to a coalition we’ve built with 50 different Jewish-based organizations,” Davis said. “In times of distress, people come together. It was important to us to put this out to many of the organizations that deal with the next generation to give them an opportunity to give back when they are needed.”

At the food pantries around Los Angeles, volunteers like Uber prepare boxes containing tomato sauce, pasta and canned fruits and vegetables for families to pick up via drive-up or walk-up service.

Sherry Weinman, U.S. IsraAID board chair, has been involved with IsraAID for nearly two decades and supervised the first IsraAID office in Palo Alto and its second office in L.A. She told the Journal it’s not just about volunteering, it’s about gaining skill sets and utilizing skilled workers in each community to give back.

“We don’t do ‘voluntourism,’ ” she said. “We don’t take unskilled people to Kenya to work with refugees. We take doctors. But we have always wanted something where people could volunteer when they didn’t have those particular skill sets.”

The team at IsraAID also understands that physical health isn’t the only element to be mindful of during an emergency. “People’s mental health is not going to stay strong,” Davis said. “We’ve already seen a few incidents of suicide and high levels of domestic violence.”

IsraAID  also has launched a free online interactive webinar, which provides practical day-to-day tools for coping. The 45-minute session, guided by mental health facilitators, provides 12 ways to reduce stress and anxiety in quarantine and allows people to connect and express their thoughts and fears in a safe space.

With May being mental health month in the United States, Davis said he hopes these resources get to everyone who needs them. “Now that this is a global pandemic, people realize we are all going through the same thing and we need to support each other. We’ve become a global village.”

Before the coronavirus, the organization, founded in 2001, had assisted more than 50 countries on various emergency initiatives. One of the most popular questions people ask post-disaster is “How do we get back to normal?” Davis said.

He recommended rather than saying “new normal” or “going back to normal” the phrase to use is “post-traumatic growth. This pandemic has a lot of focus on cleanliness and washing your hands and not touching your face, and sneezing into your elbow. First of all, that is a step forward and I think people are going to use those methods that they’ve already adjusted to,” Davis said. “But also recognizing how vulnerable we all are. It can hit anywhere, any time and we have to be more thoughtful of other people when they are hit with natural disasters or pandemics and we need to respond.”