Yaffa Rimon, 89, is a veteran volunteer at Yad Sarah.

Yaffa was born in Poland, but spent her childhood – from the age of two  and a half – in Antwerp, Belgium. When World War II broke out, her family fled Belgium to France, and then, like many other Jews,  wandered all over Europe until they arrived in Switzerland. There they crossed the border illegally, and in 1945  acquired "certificates" (immigration certificates for Eretz Yisrael issued by the British Mandate) and immigrated to Israel. Her mother-in-law offered them "a small apartment" in Jerusalem, consisting of one room and a shared kitchen. They lived for a while in that apartment, then moved to a kibbutz and finally settled down in the city of Netanya.

During the War of Independence she lived with her family in Netanya, but news of the establishment of the State reached her in Bnai Brak. Yaffa remembers how they woke up at night, hearing the song "David King of Israel Lives!" sung in the nearby Ponevezh Yeshiva. The next day, she remembers, they took the bus from Bnai Brak to Tel Aviv and drove through the "black road" (Jabotinsky Road), and the factory workers along the road stopped each bus and offered refreshments to the passengers. The first attack took place the next day in Netanya, on the bus to Jerusalem.

Yaffa had four children. The eldest son, who was born in Switzerland, fell ill later and unfortunately died. Yaffa did not go out to work, but devoted herself to the raising of her children. When they grew up she started working in Laniado Hospital as a bookeeper.

More than 26 years ago, a Yad Sarah branch was opened in Netanya by the Gintzler family, commemorating their parents. Yaffa, like many other members of the ultra-orthodox community in Netanya, joined in to help, and has been volunteering in that branch ever since. In the beginning, all the volunteers took part in all the procedures involved in lending equipment. Since these procedures have been computerized, changing the nature of the work, Yaffa focuses on registration, and when needed takes part in the lending as well.

We asked her to share with us some stories about good people who visited the branch. In one case, she remembered, a young man came to borrow a breast pump but did not have the money to pay  the deposit another client who came in at the same time opened his wallet and paid for the deposit out of his own money. Another time she and her friend donated the deposit for an Ethiopian new immigrant, who needed an inhalator for his wife. He reimbursed them immediately after he got his social security allowance. In another case, an Arab pediatrician borrowed a breast  pump, paid its full value, and donated the money after returning the pump.