As the siren sounds at 10am, the whole of Israel comes to a standstill in memory of the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. And then life resumes.

It's Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, the day Israel remembers both heroes and martyrs. Across the country, numerous remembrance ceremonies are held like this one in Roglit that marks the memory of the 80,000 Jews deported from France.

The need to preserve memories is seen as an imperative. But among the 250,000 Holocaust survivors, 80,000 live in poverty. Many are forced to frequent soup kitchens like this one in Ness Ziona, not far from Tel Aviv.

Every day, 300 volunteers, across the country, deliver food and medicine to people like 75-year-old Ludmilla, originally from Russia. Ludmilla receives a monthly pension of about 350 euros, not enough to live on. For Liron Yochai, one of the volunteers, this situation is simply intollerable.

The need to preserve Holocaust memories should not mean forgetting the needs of the last living witnesses, argues Liron.