The state of Israel is in a state of war, and we are all experiencing extremely tough days. Despite all that, one of the bright spots of these days were the extensive volunteering by the public, as well as the Maccabi Foundation and the first team players. All came forward to strengthen the residents of the south thus raising the national morale.
As part of the Maccabi Foundation activities, players accompanied by members of Maccabi’s Youth Academy visited several centers with Eran Zahavi, Yonatan Cohen, Dor Peretz and Eyal Golasa arrived at Kibbutz Shfayim where residents of the Gaza strip border communities were evacuated to following the horrors of the war. The players played football with the kids, had their photos taken with them and obviously handed out some gifts on behalf of the club.
A similar activity involving kids from the south took place on the Tel Aviv beach with Sheran Yeini, Ofir Davidzada and Dan Biton took supplying the entertainment and distraction. Gabi Kanichowsky played his part as well with the midfielder meeting kids from Gaza border communities at Netanya.
Maccabi’s captain, Sheran Yeini, said: “It is a privilege to be able to give these boys and girls from the Nir Am Kibbutz as good a feeling as I possibly can. The situation is just heart breaking and we would all prefer to return to normality as fast as possible. In the meantime, we could do some good deeds and there are few young talents we might consider signing at Maccabi Tel Aviv.”
Ofir Davidzada added: “We must understand that our strength is in our unity. The more we stick together the stronger we will be as a nation, as a military and everything else we do.”
Dan Biton summed up: “We came to strengthen them and were strengthened ourselves. Let us just hope we experience better days in the future.”
