Rest & Recreation

R&R for Combat Soldiers

Combat soldiers bear the brunt of the vital mission of safeguarding Israel's borders. With them in mind, AWIS runs R&R centers with high-quality lodging, good meals, swimming pools, movies and other entertainment. After long months of arduous training and operations in harsh conditions, hardworking soldiers can get a vacation and recharge their batteries before returning to serve their country with renewed strength. In 1998, 29,000 combat soldiers each enjoyed the hospitality for one week, and another 31,000 soldiers were each awarded a fun day at an AWIS resort.

R&R for IDF Widows and Orphans

Each summer, the FIDF & AWIS hosts the family members of IDF soldiers who fell in the line of duty. In 1998, 2000 IDF widows and their children spent a week's vacation at AWIS facilities. Neither the people of Israel nor the FIDF forgets those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Soldiers Home

The FIDF and AWIS operates seven well-appointed soldiers' hostels in Kyriat Shmona, Haifa, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Beersheba and Eilat. Any soldier finding himself far from home is warmly received at any soldier's home. He or she is welcome to sleep at the home, eat a homemade meal served by volunteers, and make use of the synagogue, fitness room, clubroom, cafeteria, music room, and in some cities even a swimming pool. Hundreds of thousands of fine meals and comfortable beds are provided to soldiers each year.

Educational Facilities

The IDF grants its officers and soldiers many opportunities to complete their basic education or embark on advanced studies in the course of their army service. Special attention is devoted to developing leadership skills. In order to ensure an attractive, calm environment, conducive to optimal learning, the FIDF and AWIS provides its hotel-like services and facilities for IDF educational courses, thereby saving the army millions of dollars every year.

In 1998 FIDF & AWIS facilities were placed at the disposal of the IDF Educational Corps for special courses benefiting new immigrants drafted in the army and for an intensive two-week psychometric course. Far removed from a conventional military atmosphere, soldiers can get the most out of their lessons as well as imbibe the important message that education is the key to their future.

In 1998, 315 disadvantaged soldiers wanting to pursue under-graduate studies received $1,000 in academic scholarships.


FIDF Activities in IDF Units

Social Club Rooms

The FIDF establishes and maintains clubhouses on army bases. Currently some 2,000 clubrooms are available for soldiers to unwind, socialize, watch TV and have something refreshing after long hours of laborious training and life-threatening maneuvers.

Mobile Club Rooms

On the front lines, where permanent structures cannot be built, the FIDF supplies air conditioned Mobile Club Rooms with comfortable furniture, TV sets, VCRs, board games, stereo systems and other amenities. The goal is to provide one mobile club room for each infantry combat battalion in the first stage; and eventually, budget permitting, for each individual unit in each battalion.

The FIDF also sends front-line kits containing games, books, TVs, VCRs, electric kettles and radios to combat unit soldiers whose operational missions keep them constantly on the move, guarding Israel's borders.

Fitness Rooms

Battle fitness is a top priority for combat soldiers. The FIDF builds fitness rooms on IDF bases and provides mobile fitness rooms for combat units that do not have a permanent base. It also constructs Sports Centers on bases which offers the use of basketball and volleyball courts, fitness room, grandstands, meeting facilities and a common area.

Soldiers in remote locations are not neglected; 50 outlying military posts were recently equipped with multi-trainer exercise machines.

For Soldiers in Transit

All along Israel's roads, the FIDF maintains hundreds of soldier hitchhiking stations. At main junctions, the FIDF operates roadside kiosks manned by volunteers who serve free or low-priced refreshments to soldiers.


Day-to-Day Caring

Lone Soldiers

The FIDF looks after soldiers with neither family nor friends in Israel. An innovative project called 'Cozy Home' has been created for these lone soldiers, currently numbering 4,200, whereby the FIDF rents fully furnished apartments for them throughout Israel. In 1998, each lone soldier also received useful gifts on Independence Day and Rosh Hashanah. A recent decision enables them to call their families and send packages overseas at no charge; and a fund has been set up in conjunction with the IDF to finance lone soldier's trips abroad to their families.

Wounded and Hospitalized Soldiers

FIDF & AWIS volunteers provide maximum support and encouragement to hospitalized soldiers, bringing them gifts, radios, electric kettles and an offer to use mobile phones to contact their families. For longer periods of hospitalization, the FIDF has the soldier's room installed with cable television and houses his or her parents at a nearby soldier's home. In a few special cases, the FIDF has financed the trip abroad for the parents of a wounded lone soldier.

Improving Living Conditions

The FIDF works to improve the quality of life on military bases, mainly in women's quarters, by adding the small, yet important touches the army cannot afford, such as curtains and reading lamps. In addition, the FIDF is in the process of funding the renovation of mess halls, installing air-conditioning units and maintaining on-base synagogues and study rooms.

The Tzrifin base, headquarters of the Women's Corps, is undergoing major improvements thanks to the FIDF. A high-tech Education Center complete with computer labs, library and cafeteria is currently under construction.


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