Deborah, originally from the Northshore of Chicago, followed her Zionist calling, and made Aliyah in 2011. While in Israel in 2012, she met her Israeli husband and moved to the South of Israel. Since 2016, she lived with her husband and two small girls in Kibbutz Zikim, on the Mediterranean Sea and about 1-1/2 miles north of the Gaza border.

They survived the October 7th massacre, while hiding in their bomb shelter, terrified, listening to rocket explosions and Hamas gunfire just meters away from their home, as terrorists tried to infiltrate their community. They were evacuated on October 8th to a hotel in Jerusalem. Shortly after that, Deborah and her husband made the difficult decision that she would return to her hometown, now as a refugee, with their girls for an undetermined amount of time, until the war ends.  

Her husband remained in Israel, to work and take care of his elderly parents. They have been lucky to have been loaned a guest house in the area, and a car, but in the coming weeks, they will need to leave the house, and return the car.  They will face the financial challenges of renting an apartment and a car, as they can not  return to their home on the border. While they plan to move to the center of Israel, their return date is unknown, as the attacks in the North continue, and a war with Iran is looming. With a mortgage in Israel (on a house that is no longer worth much,) and the continued expenses of living in the US as refugees, Deborah and her husband face the financial burden of paying for an additional home, car, health care, food, clothing, etc etc for her and her daughters. Donating to Project Aid & Rescue will also help Deborah and her family with living expenses while they are here in the US, and enable them to make their return date to Israel a decision based solely on safety, and not financial necessity.