“He was the fun uncle, the tall uncle, the hero uncle, the uncle that takes you on his shoulders and shows you around.”

That was the description given by Shahar Mor, the nephew of Avraham Munder, of the 79-year-old man who is still a hostage of Hamas in Gaza, at a walk-a-thon event in Denver Sunday meant to increase awareness of Israeli hostages.

Munder’s nephew was joined by other family members of hostages, a state senator and at least 100 people in Washington Park carrying Israeli flags and posters with the faces of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. 

The walk-a-thon, put on by grassroots organization Run 4 Their Lives, took the group on a mile walk around the park with the goal of “(raising) awareness of and (focusing) attention on the humanitarian plight of the approximately 136 Israeli hostages the terror group Hamas still holds captive in Gaza,” according to a news release from the organization. 

Several speakers took the microphone before the walk, including family members of Israeli hostages. State Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet spoke as well, leading the group in a prayer for their return.

Eldad Malka, the Colorado regional manager of the Israel American Council, said the number of people who showed up to Sunday’s event was “inspiring” and “shows the power that we all have.”

“It makes everybody here feel that they have a place to go to and they can support in some way,” Malka said.

Jenet said it can oftentimes feel hopeless to be so far away from the hostages and their families. Across the sea from Israel, people can help by talking about those people, posting about it online and doing everything they can to keep the situation in the news, she said. 

“We will not let these hostages go one day without our screaming for them to come home,” Jenet said. “Every single one of you here matters, every single one of your voices matter, and together, together, together we bring them home.”

Noa Argamani was kidnapped on Oct. 7 while attending the Nova music festival.

Argamani’s uncle, Yacov Argamani, said he woke up the morning of Oct. 7 to alarms that he thought were a malfunction in the alarm system.

He discovered later that his young niece had been dragged off of a motorcycle with her boyfriend, who were both kidnapped by Hamas.

“Since then, it’s 121 days that we are living in fear, crying in uncertainty and helplessness,” Argamani said.  

Noa Argamani’s mother has terminal brain cancer and “our time is running out,” her uncle said. He begged the crowd to help be his voice to bring the hostages home. 

Avraham Munder is also in captivity and his family doesn’t know day-to-day if he is alive and OK, his nephew said. 

Munder, who turned 79 in captivity in December and whose son was killed on Oct. 7, was “the fun uncle, the tall uncle, the hero uncle, the uncle that takes you on his shoulders and shows you around,” Mor said. 

After he was taken hostage, Munder’s family assumed he was dead because, the last time some of them saw him, he was lying face-down on the ground surrounded by three militants, Mor said. 

As Munder aged, so has his body. He has trouble walking and has very poor eyesight, Mor said. 

“The mere thought of him getting to Gaza when he needs help getting to the toilets … we just assumed he was dead,” his nephew said. 

Another hostage who was later released told Munder’s family differently, however. Now, his family knows he was alive when they were told so recently, but doesn’t know his condition or whether he will survive the next day.

“He’s alive and he needs our help,” his nephew said. “Something is broken, something is shattered and we need to fix it. This is not just a Jewish lesson, this is a universal lesson. If this can happen to my uncle, it can happen to anyone and the mere thought that someone can take someone and just make them disappear for 120-something days is … I can’t really explain.”