Be a part of Ari's mission to volunteer in the IDF

Ever since I was a kid in Melbourne, I wanted to serve in the IDF so I could help the Jewish people and show my support for Israel. Now that I'm 17 I have the opportunity to be part of a volunteer program called SAR- EL where people all over the world fly to Israel and work together in a non combat unit completing whatever duties the army requires to assist its active soldiers. We'll be housed on real army bases for a period of three weeks and are given kosher food. We are not given any stipends or traveling expenses, and payment is purely the personal satisfaction of knowing we did our part to protect the Jewish state and its people. Because I'm not yet 18, I'm ineligible for Birthright, MASA or other government or Jewish grants. My unit leader said it is not common for people my age to come as a lone volunteer soldier, but I really want to understand what life in the IDF would be like before enlisting straight after year 12 and delay University in Australia like most of my mates. I'm thinking about making aliyah and I really want to get to know the culture of Israel and have a realistic plan for my future. My step mother Shira made aliyah and lived in Israel volunteering in kiruv and outreach organizations for olim so she has a lot of contacts that will look after me for Shabbat while I'm overseas so I feel I have a solid network of mentors there already. What I am concerned about is raising the money for the roundtrip airplane ticket to Israel and travel expenses to and from the base as we are off duty on Shabbat. I worked in a non kosher bakery called Aviv on Saturdays to save money for my ticket, but quit after my stepmother convinced me that there was no blessing in working on Shabbat to save money for Israel. She bet me that if we did things the kosher way we'd find a way. If you are able to give anywhere from $18, $36, $72 or the whole ticket of about $1800:))))) I'd be really grateful. Now more than ever we see the importance of protecting Jewish pride. If you ever wanted to be part of the army but didn't have the time or guts to go, please help me get there. I'm happy to take pics and give you updates about the kind of missions we do...if it's not classified. Peace in the Middle East. Arie