Community Service, by Howard Kestenbaum 
This was our first day of CAARI volunteer work, Tuesday, January 19 – mine was at a Rehab Center of Ichilov Hospital. I was with two other CAARI people, Ann and Paula. We took taxis to the hospital, at 7:30 in the morning. Paula had worked there the year before, so knew many of the people. She got plenty of hugs and kisses from some of the staff, who were very happy to see us. She and I set up many breakfast trays for the patients on our side of the room, like a big dayroom with TV, split by a huge fish tank, while Ann did the same on the other side. We served bread, cheese, eggs, salad and hot cereal, plus coffee or tea. We also did some cleanup after the meals were finished. Later, I stripped and remade beds in the patient’s rooms, pretty hard and hot work. Somehow, the sheets and blankets always seemed to be folded wrong! After the bed work, I filled plastic bags with tubes of medication and had to highlight the details of each on an included sheet. Then, it was time to get back to the hotel for lunch.
This week has been cloudy and showery, unlike our last week in Tiberias, where we had fine weather. The forecast is for showery or rainy weather for the next two weeks! In addition, we have been having high winds, howling at night, affecting the ability to sleep in our rooms.
This is the pattern for this week, work, a museum and a lecture after dinner. Friday, we serve as ushers for Tu’Bshvat tree planting, for which we got special, white sweatshirts, that we will wear, together with our KKL/JNF baseball caps.
Howard K.
Botanical Gardens at Tel Aviv University – pictures by Marcia Bercov
Four of the CAARI participants are volunteering at the Botanical Gardens. They are under the supervision of Tal. Both Marcia and Sig worked here in previous years and they were happy to see the staff and the facilities. Still much work to do in the seed collection room, weeding in various gardens and special projects. Along with Joan and Nancy they are in for an meaningful experience.
