Each his neighbor they help, and to his brother he said: "Be strong!"
(Isaiah, XLI, 6)
Dear friends,
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, we woke up to a reality that has changed our lives in Israel. Despite the brutal and barbaric surprise attack by terrorists from Gaza, the earth trembled, but the skies did not fall. This was thanks to the resilience of the residents, preparedness units, soldiers, and their commanders who fought bravely to prevent the complete destruction and the spread of horrors that we have already experienced.
For the past 17 years, we, the Friends for Society Association, have been working tirelessly through volunteer efforts in Sderot. We have actively contributed to various initiatives, including aiding families affected among Sderot’s residents, the fallen police officers who protected the citizens, and the fallen soldiers from the combat units in the settlements. They sacrificed their lives to protect the kibbutzim and moshavim residents.
We began fundraising efforts to cover the necessary expenses. When the decision was made to expand our activities even before the war, we were the first to contribute. Our work is entirely voluntary, and no one receives a salary. Every shekel donated goes directly to its intended purpose.
Donations are tax-deductible in Israel and the USA and Canada.
Thank you for your attention and response.
Donations in Israel: Website link, Friends for Sderot,
http://www.friends4sderot.org.il/english/
BankOtsar Hachayal 14, , 14 Ramat Hasharon,Branch 375,account ,333444
For donations in Canada and the USA: Website link, https://www.c4i.ca/
About 'Friends of the Society for the Children of Sderot'
The town of Sderot lies on the border fence with the Ghaza strip. During the past eight years the town has been under constant barrage of rockets and bombs and is in the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The town is considered by the Terrorists a "soft spot" that can fracture the stature of us all. Their goal is clear: to turn Sderot into a ghost town.
In order to prevent this from happen it is vital that we support the people of Sderot, identify with them and really help them, not just with words. For this purpose we, friends and graduates of the National Security College, class of 85', have decided to stop debating the problem and take action instead.
In our first visit to Sderot we met an impressive group of people, who helped to shed some light on the severity of the situation. We saw the trail of devastation the rockets left on homes, businesses and most of all on the people themselves. We met students and teachers trying to maintain a daily routine with rocket alerts that allow them 15 seconds to run for shelter. We have heard of others (about 25% of the total population) who couldn’t cope with the pressure and left town, and on the other hand met those who are building new homes and do not even consider making another place their home.
We decided to concentrate on Education. From discussions we've had with people in Sderot, we learned that the field of non-formal education – music, cinema, theater – that's not budgeted regularly by the government or the municipal authority, is the one we'd like to support.
Here are some examples of things we are doing with moderate costs:
- Purchasing a yearly subscription to the local Cinemateque for children at risk.
- Financing Day care shelters for boys and girls at risk.
- Financing psychological treatment by art for families in distress.
- Arranging and financing theater workshops for high school students together with "The Cameri" theater in Tel Aviv.
At first, we have opened our hearts and pockets and bought cinema subscriptions for young children. A couple of friends donated pianos, a guitar and some other instruments. We've installed more than 70 computers.
Facing this tremendous challenge it is clear that we cannot finance it by ourselves. We plan to expand these activities and so we turn to you, our friends in Israel and abroad. If you consider this a worthy task you can donate any sum of money to help expand our activities in Sderot.
Please feel free to forward this message to others in order to help us achieve our goal – Sderot will not fall!
Friends of Sderot,
Dir. In JAF (ret) Ya'acov Aloni (passed away Aug. 2011), Brig. Gen. (res.) Motti Biran, Brig. Gen. (res.) Shmuel Ben-Rom, Police Commissioner (ret.) Shlomo Gal, Colonel (res.)Yoel Mor, Brig. Gen. (res.) Shmuel Reshef (Passed away Dec.2010), Colonel (res.) Noam Shapira, Colonel (res.) Yosi Snir, Ambassador (ret.)Yoel Sher, Ceo in PMO (ret.) Eli Yakuel.