28 | OCTOBER 26 • 2023 J
N
F
or University of
Michigan student Atara
Kresch, who says her
“whole heart and life is in
Israel,” standing by and watch-
ing the Hamas-Israel conflict
unfold wasn’t an option.
With her family in Israel (see
page 24), Kresch, 22, quickly
mobilized.
“I’ve been feeling so hope-
less not knowing what to do,”
Kresch wrote on Facebook at
the start of the crisis, which
saw Hamas launch an unprece-
dented attack on Israel on Oct.
7. “This morning, there were
anti-Israel pamphlets distribut-
ed all over campus.”
Unable to go to class without
feeling “sick to her stomach,”
Kresch and other Jewish stu-
dents organized a vigil at the
University of Michigan Diag
on Oct. 9 that saw more than
1,000 students attend to show
their support for Israel.
GATHERING SUPPLIES
Still, Kresch wanted to do
more. She began fundraising
alongside friends and family,
and within just seven hours,
raised more than $2,500 to buy
supplies for Israeli soldiers.
Kresch and her friends
ordered items “nonstop” on
Amazon, and made trips to
Walmart and Costco after the
vigil to fill their vehicles with
even more supplies for Israel.
They spent the next two nights
doing the same, with Kresch
reporting barely sleeping at all.
However, Kresch knew she
needed to be onsite to ensure
safe delivery of the goods —
and she desperately missed her
family in Israel, wanting noth-
ing more than a hug from her
mother.
Therefore, she didn’t even
think twice before buying a
plane ticket to Israel.
“We are now sitting here in
my apartment in Ann Arbor,
Michigan,” she said just prior
to her flight to Ben-Gurion
Airport on Oct. 11. “We are
6,000 miles away from Israel
packing up suitcases and writ-
ing letters supporting our sol-
diers and our friends.”
By then, Kresch and friends
had raised more than $7,000,
and as she prepared to board
her flight on Wednesday, that
number had quickly grown to
around $12,000.
In the days before taking
off, Kresch spent the week
coordinating with Israelis to
learn what the biggest needs
were. In particular, there were
many requests for solar battery
chargers.
With supplies collected, she
boarded the first leg of her
flight from Detroit to New York
with three large duffle bags and
a carry-on full of goods going
directly to Israel.
However, Kresch wasn’t
alone in her efforts, as New
York’s JFK airport, where she
had a layover before her flight
to Tel Aviv, has served as an
international hub of support
for Israel.
Many stories of bravery and
selflessness have trickled out
of JFK, such as an anonymous
man who bought 250 plane
tickets for Israel-bound IDF
reservists.
“I met someone at the air-
port, and we are currently
coordinating trying to get vests
for [army] units,” Kresch said
upon arriving at JFK. “There
were so many bags [full of sup-
plies]. It was beautiful to see.”
Kresch says after landing
in Israel, one of her duffel
bags made it through, and the
other two were stuck in transit,
though she was hopeful they’d
be delivered that day.
In just a few hours of being
in Israel, Kresch was already
able to help distribute packages
to the south, which has faced
immense devastation from
Hamas, and some to northern
Israel. More packages are on
their way to other regions in
the country.
“We’re not stopping,” she
says. “There’s a lot of good hap-
pening.”
Critical donations raised by
Kresch and her community
have bought helmet covers for
various IDF units and shelves
for medical units struggling to
organize medical supplies to
treat wounded individuals.
Still, Kresch says the work
has just begun.
“I’m so proud to be Jewish,”
she says. “I’m so proud to call
this place my home.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ATARA KRESCH
Atara Kresch has landed in Israel with bags of supplies for soldiers.
U-M Student Raises
Nearly $12,000 for Israel
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OUR COMMUNITY
Some of the
supplies she
collected for
IDF soldiers.
Atara Kresch loads up her
car’s trunk with supplies
before heading to the airport.
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