They came from Washington state and Wheeling, W.Va., Detroit and New York state — all drawn to the embattled Israeli town of Sderot by an energetic retiree from South Orange named George Iversen.

For two weeks in August, the 13 American volunteers recruited by Iversen commuted daily to Sderot from nearby Kibbutz Alumim.

They offered their assistance to some of the most desperate areas of the city dangerously close to Gaza that has been subjected to a frequent bombardment of Palestinian Kassam rockets.

Taking their direction from the municipal government's welfare department, the volunteers focused on providing services to people with special needs, painting apartments, repairing damaged buildings, and acting as unofficial ambassadors from America's Jewish communities.

"We did whatever was asked," said Iversen. "It's always nice to write a check, but when you give yourself, it's a little bit more."

Iversen has spent the past three years organizing volunteers for Israel. "I was looking for something I could do personally," he said. "I discovered Volunteers for Israel on the Web, signed up, and had an absolutely life-changing experience."

After that experience, he began recruiting others through e-mail and the Internet and took time off from his accounting and computer work for the Essex County Surrogate's Court to make the trip.

One task he performed, said Iversen, was, however, tinged with unpleasant feelings.

"We renovated a bomb shelter. I can understand why people don't like to go in them. You don't want to spend more time in them than you have to," he said. "The one I was in was pretty dank and dirty and depressing. Just concrete walls. People go there at first, but they don't want to go back. It's scary."

Scary, too, were the four or five times alarms sounded while the volunteers were in town.

"When the alarm goes off you generally have about 15 seconds to get to a safe place," Iversen said. "On one occasion I was having dinner with an Ethiopian family and there was an explosion close by us. Then the alarm came, and then another explosion."

Iversen said he saw places in town "where the curbstone was riddled with holes. At the yeshiva, one of the rockets severed the lower spinal cord of a young girl, and she died."

Such experiences gave Iversen greater insight into the daily lives of the people in Sderot.

"The threat of attack is constantly there and you never know when. It is beyond trauma. The people are being terrorized and hurt psychologically."

Despite their life under siege, Iversen said, "the people are very friendly. It is a very nice town. And, yes, I would like to go back."