(from the VFI website)
"In the summer of 1982, in the midst of the Galilee War, Golan
Heights settlements faced the disastrous prospect of losing
their entire agricultural crop. The majority of able-bodied
settlers were called up for army reserve duty and entire farms,
with crops already ripened, were left unattended, due to the
acute manpower shortage. Dr. Aharon Davidi (former head of the
I.D.F. Paratroopers and Infantry Corps) was then directing the
Golan Heights community and cultural activities. Touched by the
settlers' distress, he sent a number of friends as a recruitment
team to the United States. Within a few weeks, some 650
volunteers arrived in Israel to lend their support through
volunteer labor. Realizing the merits of that action, those
first volunteers expressed the wish that the volunteer project
be perpetuated.
As a result, in the Spring of 1983, "Sar-El" - The National
Project for Volunteers for Israel - was founded as a non-profit,
non-political organization ("Sar-El" is the Hebrew acronym
meaning "Service for Israel"). Over the years, volunteers from
other countries came to partake in the project, and to date,
Sar-El is represented in some 30 countries world-wide.
Historically, Sar-El's greatest number of volunteers have come
from Volunteers for Israel (V.F.I.) in the U.S.A. and
Volontariat Civil (U.P.I.) in France."
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