ERETZ
A
CHI, American
Communities Helping
Israel, was founded
in 2004 during the Second
Intifada to boost the econ-
omy and morale in Israel.
Most recently, it has created
an online marketplace to help
Israeli vendors impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Five women who went to
high school together more than
50 years ago created a virtual
market for Israeli vendors to
sell their merchandise from
afar.
ACHI is an online market-
place where 150+ Israel-based
vendors can find new custom-
ers worldwide. The nonprofit’s
slogan is “Think Israel, Buy
Israeli” and acts as a counter-
punch to the BDS movement.
It serves as a sort of “Etsy” for
Israeli vendors so that even if
people can’t visit Israel, they
can support it.
The founder, Suzanne
Weilgus, started the organi-
zation in 2004. She organized
“Ben Yehuda Fairs” in the
Northeast to help Israeli mer-
chants whose businesses were
suffering from a lack of tour-
ism. Vendors who traveled to
the U.S. to sell their products
told her they sold more in four
hours at those fairs than they
had in two years.
“About 50 stores were kept
alive, and they were able to feed
their families because of these
fairs,” says Weilgus. “People
want to help Israel; we just have
to show them how.”
After the fairs, ACHI con-
tinued to promote Israel and
Israeli products in stores, syn-
agogues and all over the com-
munity.
During the height of COVID,
when Israeli businesses were
suffering once again, Weilgus
knew she had to do something.
“Businesses in Israel are in
trouble. We couldn’t even get
through to many of the mer-
chants by phone because they
couldn’t afford their phone
bills,” Weilgus said. “So we
worked on creating a virtual
market.”
With the help of high school
friends Gloria Gordon, Tova
Taragin, Dr. Lynda Zentman
and Rochelle Zupnik, ACHI
moved online. The group of
five has now blossomed to eight
plus three associates who work
on social media.
“We’ve all become kind of
like sisters through this. Each
one brings different talents to
the table and we feel very ful-
filled,” the ACHI team said.
The main staff are all volun-
teers, so the money earned goes
toward maintaining the website
and paying social media associ-
ates, instead of to salaries.
SOMETHING FOR
EVERYONE
The Market sells Judaica, art,
cosmetics, fashion, food, gift
stores, jewelry, photos and
wines of Israel. One section
offers customers the option to
purchase Israeli goods online
to be delivered to friends and
family living in Israel.
All vendors need to join the
online platform is an e-com-
merce website in English and
the ability to ship goods to cus-
tomers in the U.S and Canada.
Shop Israel
32 | MARCH 10 • 2022
Online marketplace makes it easy
to buy Israeli goods during the
pandemic.
JN STAFF