Inside the Jerusalem Emergency Command Centre

In the first of a two-part series, ITTAY FLESCHER observes at close quarters how Israelis have banded together to help others in a time of crisis.

"Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.”

I’ve been reflecting about how true this quote is from Marjorie Moore after spending a day volunteering at The Jerusalem Emergency Command Centre that has been operating continuously since the afternoon of October 7, and run entirely by volunteers.

Since the war began, it has assisted more than 25,000 evacuees from the south who have been moved to Jerusalem for their safety, sent 14,000 boxes of military equipment and food to the front, found accommodation for over 3000 people and opened a free “store” of second-hand clothes and toys, which, at any moment, is filled with dozens of "customers" from the south and the north, choosing what they want from thousands of items donated by the residents of Jerusalem.

There were more than 300 people present on the Sunday I volunteered. When I arrived in the morning, I was allocated to the food team where I spent the morning in front of laptops going through request forms filled in by people all over the city, connecting people who need food with individuals and restaurants who are able to donate meals.

Together with the transport team, we delivered over 500 hot meals across the city. I could see the joy and meaning in the faces of the volunteers, observing that the time they were spending as volunteers was helping them cope with the mental challenges of the war as much as it was helping the evacuees.

One of the volunteers, Eitan Stepanov, 28, has regularly been spending up to 10 hours a day at the command centre, which operates out of the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio in central Jerusalem.