Nova survivor transforms events app into a fundraiser for orphaned children
Nova survivor transforms events app into a fundraiser for orphaned children
Arad Fruchter was working on Zygo.co.il one month before attending the Nova festival on October 7. Now, he is directing resources to help fundraise for orphaned children.
Events platform Zygo.co.il was only launched one month before one of its founders, 21-year-old Arad Fruchter, attended the Nova music festival on October 7. During the terrible attack that took place, he miraculously escaped in a car and drove along the highway and hid in bushes for hours until he was rescued by police officers. It is estimated that 360 out of 4,000 festival goers were killed by Hamas, nearly one-third of the total death count from the massacre.
While the tragedy temporarily paused activities on the app as events were canceled and the country underwent a period of mourning, it gave him and developer Gal Zilberstein a new lease on life. Zygo.co.il has spent the last month using its platform as a tool to help with fundraising efforts until the country is ready to return to normalcy.
“All the events that were supposed to happen all got canceled, all our connections got shut down because no one knew what was happening, and everyone in the industry had people who were at the event,” explained Fruchter. “It was all a big mess.”
Zygo.co.il was designed as an app that helps connect party organizers with relevant suppliers, venues, and DJs. It helps users arrange events, book and pay for suppliers and manage the guest lists leading up to an occasion all in one place. Inspired to create an app as teenagers who liked to party with friends, Fruchter and Zilberstein realized that they had a tool that could help Israel with its recovery efforts following the attack.
“I have here an opportunity to change something I already have to help other people,” he explained. “If I help people with fundraisers, I am helping everyone. I’m helping me with my name, I’m helping the person to create the event, and I’m helping people who need the money. It was a win-win situation where I went to transform my platform into something that would be suitable.”
Fruchter confirmed that the pair are working on the app every day to add new features and ideas, build new partnerships, and help restore a sense of optimism in Israel. The app is currently in the process of working on a New Year’s fundraising event in collaboration with the newly launched Israeli Children’s Fund called ‘Echoes of Hope’ at the ICF Gala in Tel Aviv. “It really hits me directly as someone who was there and has seen and heard from others who were there,” Fruchter explained. “I see how big of a problem it is going to be in the next month.”
The Israeli Children’s Fund is a new voluntary initiative launched in the days following 7/10 by a group of Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists focused on providing much-needed help for the countless children who have experienced the trauma of terrorism, lost a parent, or lost their homes during the events of October 7. Its primary goal is to provide financial and emotional support for children and up to 20-year-old youth, with a fundraising goal of $100 million.
According to event organizers, for every shekel they have already received in ticket purchases, they have received five times that in direct donations. The result is that the fund has already provided 174 orphaned children with immediate relief grants and is establishing trusts for all of the orphans of October 7.
Zygo.co.il hopes to help reenter the event management space as the country slowly returns to normal. Right now, its primary focus is on fundraising and to help provide “the New Year’s that everyone wants to have” despite the ongoing challenges that are faced by the hospitality industry. Hundreds of thousands of young people across Israel are serving in the IDF causing a worker shortage, and some venues remain closed due to safety concerns. Despite this, the event offers a chance to raise money and awareness for philanthropic occasions even if the event itself must get postponed for security reasons.
“I really hope we are all going to have simpler days and happier days ahead of us where we will all be able to continue dancing and partying,” Fruchter concluded. “I hope my platform will be able to help as many people as possible today and in the future… that our country will surpass what is happening and we will have better days.”
