Outstanding among the farmers who joined the drive was the Finkelstein family from Kiryat Gat, who established the "Morana Plant Nursery" in Moshav Segulah, named for their eldest daughter Moran. Moran had cancer and struggled with the illness for eight long years, during which she desperately needed a bone marrow transplant. Ezer Mizion was instumental in finding a matching donor, but tragically, Moran passed away three and a half years ago, when she was just 23 years old.

The family went through eight harrowing years, agonizing through treatment after treatment, long hospitalizations, and frustration when the illness broke out a second time after having been controlled. After Moran's death, the family decided to carry out her last request - that the family get back on their feet financially after the terrible illness that sapped their resources.

They opened a plant nursery and named it "Morana", to preserve their daughter's memory. This year, the Morana nursery donated 5,000 potted seasonal garden flowers at less than cost price to Ezer Mizion, and organization volunteers sold the flowers at special stalls in the Farmers' Market.

Gil Finkelstein shared his feelings: "You can never forget the people who helped you out in times of trouble. Ezer Mizion doesn't just help the sick; it is a lifeline for those families. I testify to that and so can many families like ours who sit with their loved ones in the hospitals. Ezer Mizion went above and beyond the call of duty on our behalf and for our dear daughter Moran. Now it's our turn to help them."

Dr. Bracha Zisser, Director of Ezer Mizion's Bone Marrow Registry in Israel and director of the Oranit Center for children with cancer, explained: "For us, Tu BiShevat, the festival of planting, is also the festival of "transplanting." We try to increase contributions to the Bone Marrow Registry in every way possible. The generous contribution of the Finkelstein family and their team comes from a good place of cyclic feedback. Whoever bought a plant or flower played an important role in helping us reach our goal of a million potential stem cell donors in our Registry. So far, we have a half million potential donors listed."

Zisser pointed out that since the year 2005, every soldier is offered the opportunity to join Ezer Mizion's Registry upon their induction into the Israeli army. The majority are ready and willing. The main expense lies in lab testing the samples. The State of Israel does not finance the bone marrow registry's sample collection and processing expenses.

Zisser says: "A bill has been formulated, though not yet passed, that would have the government take partial responsibility for this matter. Until that happens, we will continue our drives for contributions, as in this Tu BiShevat project."

Yuval Alterlevy, from the Farmers' Market, reported that the Market administration purchased thousands of plants and potted flowers and sold them. All income from the sales was passed on as a contribution to Ezer Mizion.