Summer 2013

Today we started off the morning going down south on a two hour bus ride to the city of Be’er Sheva. When we got to the school for disabled children, we got to decide between two options, painting the school to make it more beautiful or to work with the kids who have disabilities. I personally choose to work with the children! We split into groups of ten and made our way into different classrooms of varying ages. To walk in and see their smiling faces was just a truly amazing experience. At first I thought that it was going to be hard because not only were they handicapped but, there was also a language barrier. But just by playing with them, we were able to overcome those very challenges. My group colored, passed a ball around, played an indian chief type game and danced and sang. As the bell rang and it was time to end, we all went down to the main area and danced and sang with everyone…disabled or not!

After that we went to a field to participate in a special organization called Leket. There, we picked crates upon crates of  tomatoes that are then given to soup kitchens or to the poor. Between goofing off and throwing and juggling the tomatoes around, in the end it was really a cool experience to help out. In total, we gathered 1,600 pounds of tomatoes! Doing that made me feel like I’m really working the land in order to give back to people of Israel!

-Topaz Golan, Cleveland, OH

The full video is coming soon. But for now, enjoy this!

This morning we had the chance to learn how to be medical clowns from the hilarious expert, Jeff. He explained to us the best ways to make the patients laugh. He taught us many different skills such as how to make balloon animals, how to juggle, and how to walk and act like a clown. Once we perfected these techniques we were crowned with our red noses and ready to set out.

After having an inspiring chaburah in a beautiful park in Modiin we went to the Icholov hospital in Tel Aviv. The first room I went into had a young solider and her friend. We went in with smiles on our faces and with the hopes of brightening their day. We sang the song she requested and even gave her some stickers and a balloon animal. The smile that she gave in return made all the practice worth it! Overall the experience was inspiring and I can’t wait to go bring some happiness to many other patients!

Today Bus 1 had the zechut of working with 2 incredible organizations!

The first was an organization called Save A Child’s Heart, which is an Israeli based international humanitarian project, who’s mission is to improve the quality of pediatric care for children from developing countries who suffer from heart disease. Upon arrival, we watched an incredible video that showed us all the great work that they do, which was really meaningful and inspiring! After that, we had the privilege  of meeting two of the patients that were home today; we got to play with them and get to know them. One was a precious girl from Ghana and the other was an adorable boy from Romania. Although we didn’t speak the same language we communicated with smiles and laughter! We really felt that we were able to GIVE, heart to heart! Some of us even got kisses 🙂

We then made our way to the park where we had a delicious lunch…followed by our next chesed trip to Chames, a school for the mentally disabled. Though this chesed was a bit more challenging, it was such a meaningful and special experience, to interact with such pure souls!

Our day overall was absolutely incredible…we will never forget the smiles that we saw today, and we are looking forward to seeing many more!

Coming off an awesome Shabbos and electrifying Motzei Shabbos outing, there is only one way to describe today- GIVEaldik!!! We   started off our day bright and early heading north to Netanya. We arrived at Emunah’s children home, Beit Elizraki, with ruach and energy. The kids in Beit Elazraki presented their beautiful sounding choir and very coordinated dancers. GIVErs then split up and played, danced, and hung out with all the various children.

We all had an incredible time and loved the experience. We then set out to a park and had a delicious BBQ for lunch followed by inspiring Chaburot. Feeling satisfied both physically and spiritually, we went to go enjoy the stunning beach in Netanaya. Swimming and splashing we all had a blast, but we couldn’t stay too long because we needed to go and get ready for our flash mob at Beit Levinson, a hospital in Renana. The patients of Beit Levinson had a festival outside, and the awesome GIVErs brought the ruach and dance moves to spread the cheer to all, near and far. Smiles, laughter, and dancing filled the air in Beit Levinson and everyone left feeling inspired knowing that they made someone’s day.

We are now heading back to Mevaseret to have dinner and end the day with a shiur from Rabbi Nissel. Like I said, no other words other then GIVEaldik!!!!

Our first Shabbos on GIVE was incredible!

My experience was unbelievable thanks to everyone who made it possible, and a big shout out to Mo for the amazing food I couldn’t get enough of. I was just hopping around from place to place trying to do everything at once and still try to find an hour for myself to rest. As you can see we had an amazing night since we all slept in. Sleep is a wonderful thing and I think that was the perfect time to take advantage of it as we all did. What added to this Shabbos a lot was meeting so many new girls from all over the country and becoming friend with them. It’s awesome because now you know wherever you go you’ll always have a place to go to. The singing of all of our GIVErs really added to the fun of Shabbos and lifted our spirits so much higher than what it was at the beginning. To end off an extraordinary Shabbos, we had ebbing which was unimaginable! I could tell how much everyone was into it and what our souls had to pour out. I definitely gained a lot this Shabbos, so imagine what another four weeks will do!!!

-Efrat/Effie Malachi

This morning we started out by going to Har Herzel, Israel’s military cemetery. We had a very moving experience which was finished off by a personal account from our Melaveh Neshek, Nitzan. We then had the opportunity to work the land in Beit Zayit. The GIVErs picked vegetables and cleared the ground for more fresh produce to be grown.

We can’t be in Yerushalayim on a Friday and not make in to The Machaneh Yehuda Shuk. We are on our way there and then back to Mevasseret for a beautiful Shabbos.

We hope everyone has a GIVEaldik Shabbos!