Greetings!
Greetings from Jerusalem! The school year is winding to a close, and kids all over Israel are anxiously awaiting the arrival of 30 June (their last day of school). July 1st marks the beginning of their "chofesh ha gadol" - the "big break". They see it as an exciting time to sleep in, hang out with friends, watch TV/zone out on the computer and generally laze about the house. Parents, on the other hand, tend to call it, "onesh ha gadol" - the "big punishment". Their biggest concern is: what do I do with my kids while I'm at work, and how do I keep them out of trouble?? This general feeling among parents is not limited to those in poverty. It spans all socio-economic backgrounds. From our experience, most kids do not have a stay-at-home parent. The cost of living is extremely high and both parents need to work. Parents with money solve their dilemma by setting their kids up in one summer camp session after the other. Parents without money don't have those kinds of options, until now... |
| KINDERGARTEN CAMP | |
| Because of a very generous donation from a friend of MBKI, we are financing a summer camp program for an entire kindergarten for the whole month of July. It is an all-day camp complete with daily hot meals and four field trips! The parents' total cost? Zero! We are super excited to be able to offer this opportunity to the children and their parents. At least they will have one less month to worry about this summer!
|
| COMMUNITY CENTER CAMP | |
|
In the midst of the housing projects that we work in, there is a community center that has come under new management and offers some cool after-school activities for the children. This center is putting together a three-week summer sports camp for a very affordable price. (Although "affordable" is a relative term when you're having trouble finding two shekels to rub together.) The point is that this camp does not come with the ridiculous price tag that most camps come with. The community center is receiving funding from some donors in France and that has enabled them to offer a camp experience for a fraction of the "normal" summer camp price. Their goal is to help kids, not make money!
We are collaborating with the community center and have reserved 15 spaces in their camp for our most at-risk kids. By that I mean the kids that come from single family homes and whose options consist solely of running around Jerusalem unsupervised for 2 months.
Our goal is to provide these kids' parents with an all-expense paid "ticket" to summer camp. It will consist of 3 weeks of camp with 3 camp field trips and hot lunches everyday. Our cost? Only $53 per kid! That's only $17.67/week/kid. Pretty amazing price!
If you would like to send one of these 15 kids to summer camp, please click the link below!
|
