Fundraiser to Send Sderot Children to Summer Camp

The rooftop at 1 Cordoba Drive was alive with the sound of music. Dr. Draw, two musicians on electric violin and cello, opened a fundraiser to raise money to send children from besieged Sderot for a week’s respite from constant fear.

Sipping wine and nibbling on sushi, the audience was treated to a torrent of original music. Eugene Draw, violin, Eugene Fedorichine on cello, played as though possessed, moving with the sound and the instruments – almost vibrating together. Singer/songwriter Nachum Peterseil performed his original music with acoustic guitar.

But it was a short film on what life was like in Sderot for the children living for the last eight years under the thousands of Kassam rockets fired from Gaza that melted the peoples’ hearts.

Alon Davidi, Director of the Committee for a Secure Sderot, spoke on their behalf. “The 6,000 children are really heroes. They never ask to leave Sderot. They are on the front lines of the Jewish nation. We want to give each child, as many as possible, one week so that they go to sleep not worried about running to a shelter. So that they can play freely outside without any alarm. We want to take at least 200 children and give them one week of freedom to do what they want without fear.”

Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University together with the Committee for a Secure Sderot are forming the summer program which will include counselling for post traumatic stress disorder.

“Our success as a nation and our motivation comes from the strength of the children of Sderot,” said Rami Kleinman, Executive Director of CFHU. “They’re the ones paying the price for Israel’s success. The children deserve the best. We have to expose them to opportunities, not just Hamas’s rockets. In any other country Sderot would be a ghost town. They’re taking the bullets for us.”

For the past eight years, the city of Sderot has been subjected to non-stop terror attacks from the Gaza Strip. The lethal Kassam missiles have left people dead, wounded, shell shocked and traumatized and have caused extensive damage to property and local businesses. They want to break the spirit of the people in Sderot and totally disrupt their daily lives, says the Committee. Their aim is to make life so unbearable that people will flee the city.

The Committee for a Secure Sderot was founded by the residents of the city and outlying areas. It was formed to counter the goals of the terrorists. Their aim is to boost the resilience of the people and to provide assistance wherever needed. “Terror will not triumph and will not shatter the amazing southern spirit that exists in Sderot.”

For more information go to www.SderotKidsToCamp.com