The Do Good Podcast

Beef Up Our Boys an amazing story of how beef jerky is helping our soldiers

Sword of Iron Israel Volunteering

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In the aftermath of October 7, as Israel faced one of the most challenging moments in its history, Chaim Rutenberg helped create a powerful grassroots initiative: Beef Up Our Boys. What started as a simple idea getting high-protein food to soldiers on the front lines - quickly became a movement of care, resilience, and action.

Beef Up Our Boys is an Israeli-led startup and volunteer effort dedicated to supplying IDF soldiers with nutritious, kosher, high-protein meat snacks like beef jerky and biltong. These aren’t just treats - they’re practical fuel for soldiers operating under intense physical and emotional strain, often in conditions where proper meals aren’t guaranteed.

But this story is about more than food.

It’s about how civilians turned compassion into logistics. How communities mobilised overnight. How a small idea scaled rapidly to meet a national need. And how something as simple as a packet of jerky became a symbol of solidarity, morale, and unwavering support for those protecting the country.

In this episode, we explore:

  • How Beef Up Our Boys began in the days after October 7
  • The real needs of soldiers on the ground and how nutrition plays a role in resilience
  • The power of grassroots action in times of crisis
  • Why this initiative represents the best of Israeli innovation: fast, human-centred, and impact-driven

This is a story of ingenuity under pressure, of people refusing to stand still in the face of tragedy, and of how meaningful support doesn’t always come in grand gestures -  sometimes it comes in a small package that says: you are not alone.

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