Lone Star Guests Visit the Camps in the South

July 17, 2008 / 14 Tammuz 5768

Jewish guests from Texas arrived on July 17, 2008 in order to visit Jewish Agency summer camps in Israel’s southern communities.

The visitors, Allison Goldman, chairperson Texans for Israel (Christians and Jews),  and Yoni Cohen, the Hillel emissary in Texas, visited Sderot and got down as far as moshav Tzohar in the Eshkol Regional Council.

Allison and her friends, students from the University of Texas at Austin, raised contributions in the major malls over the year and with the money that they gathered, they purchased more than 200 gift packages and games for children on the confrontation line.

They elected to get as far as they could go and reached a school at Tzohar where the “Bsor” Day Camp takes place.  The camp is named after the Israeli region adjacent to the Egyptian border and the Gaza Strip where the Eshkol Regional Council is located.

Here the children of the moshavim and the camp coordinator Orli Amsalem awaited them.

The event began with the children's Capuera (Brazilian martial art) demonstration, and continued with greetings and the presentation of flowers and souvenirs to Allison and Yoni.

Needless to say, the kids were not left out and received gifts as well.

One of the mothers, who happened to be there by chance, gave her heartfelt thanks to Allison for the gifts from Texas and for world Jewry’s deep concern and activism on behalf of the children in Gaza Perimeter communities. The two burst into tears and your photographer/correspondents did so as well. In the end I managed to establish a telephone link between Yoni Cohen the emissary and Haim Yellin, the chairman of the regional council so they could exchange mutual thanks.

Ofer Baram
Director of Community Relations
Israel Southern Region