Startup Nation UnitedAppleseeds: Personal Tragedy and Profound Impact
Startup Nation United
Appleseeds: Personal Tragedy and Profound Impact
How a dedicated team mobilized for change and harnessed its resources for the benefit of the people they have served diligently for many years.
For decades, Appleseeds has tirelessly bridged the digital divide in Israeli society. The NGO focuses on civilians in the peripheries, encompassing both the Northern and Southern regions, and benefiting both Arab and Jewish communities alike. So when the harrowing events of October 7th took place, the very foundations of their organization were shaken.
Its story is part of Startup Nation United, a series showcasing how individuals and organizations in the tech industry have united under a common vision to do their part during the ongoing war. The podcast is produced and moderated by Michael Matias and Yaffa Abadi, in collaboration with CTech, as a spin-off of the popular podcast series “20 Minutes Leaders”, also published in collaboration with CTech.
What follows is the story of how Appleseeds and its dedicated members rallied together, regaining their strength and unwavering commitment to harness their resources for the benefit of the people they have served diligently for many years.
On the morning of October 7th, Mike Bailey, like all of us, was ready to enjoy a peaceful Shabbat and festival with his family. But as he turned on his phone, and then his television, the day took a drastic turn. With many of Appleseed’s members living in the South, the tragedy was as close to home as it gets. He describes an incredible young woman working with them who, with her sister, her husband, and her three children were murdered by Hamas terrorists.
As a company built on the foundations of co-existence, the cracks were profound, and with the loss of one of its members, Appleseeds froze.
Yet as Israel’s civil society does, even in the face of unimaginable evil, they rose to the occasion. As an NGO already rooted in the municipalities and communities of the South, they took their tools and adjusted for the emergency at hand.
With their youth movement, Netta, they opened up their virtual classrooms, allowing the many displaced children from the South to access their platform, engage with their content, and find some sense of normality and escape.
They made their digital lifestyle helpline, developed during COVID, available for those people in the South locked in their bomb shelters for days. The hotline allowed many elderly who were alone in these terrifying circumstances to call for emotional and physical support.
Though Appleseeds is a socially-driven NGO at its core, it also embodies the spirit of the Startup Nation. With high-tech values and its own R&D department to ensure continued relevance and efficiency, it provided technical support, digital tools, and databases to other volunteer groups to ensure their smooth and efficient operation
And they are already looking ahead as to how they can use the foundations built over their 23 years to continue assisting during this critical time.
When asked how the incredible Appleseed’s team was able to pull their resources and help significantly despite this tragedy affecting their team on the most personal level, Mike emphasizes,
‘The fact that [we] managed to pull [ourselves] out of a deep, deep hole and start doing something valuable and meaningful is very important for morale. First of all, it's important to the people who are helping. But it's also important for the morale of the team and for the sense that the huge effort we put into building this amazing NGO for peace times is proving itself as a very strong backbone for facing this adversity.’
Appleseed’s has been working for the good of Israeli society for decades. Taking those years of experience and channeling it to be even more meaningful in times of crisis, confusion, and pain is a testimony to the strength of an incredible team unified with a mission to help those who need it most.
About:
Yaffa Abadi is the founder and CEO of Abadi Brands, a boutique consultancy specializing in personal branding and thought leadership for investors.
Michael Matias, Forbes 30 Under 30, is the CEO of Clarity, a startup that preserves trust in digital media by fighting deepfakes, and an active angel investor in the AI and Cyber domain.
