A true Tikkun Olam
Purim is one of those holidays loved by both children and adults alike. It needs relatively little preparation and is filled with fun, food, and lots of celebration. Kids look forward to the treats theyll receive in the form of Mishloach Manot, and competing with their friends over who has the best costume.
For many needy children in Israel, however, these simple luxuries cannot be taken for granted. This is something that leading Israeli relief organization, Meir Panim, is seeking to redress.
I initiated this project in 2004 after discovering one of the children who attended the Meir Panim after-school club crying his eyes out one day, explains Ilanit Hafuta, Director of the Meir Panim branch in Ohr Akiva (situated 55km north of Tel Aviv). I asked him why he was so upset and he looked up at me with these large, tearful eyes and said that he was embarrassed to attend his school Purim party because he had no costume to wear and his family had no money to buy him one.
Hafuta decided then and there that every single child in the community who needed it would have something to wear that Purim, and today, nine years later, over 100 children in Ohr Akiva alone proudly boast their chosen Purim outfit. The idea that any child should be embarrassed to go to school because they dont have what to dress up in, is heartbreaking. Now, not only does each child have a costume, but we do our very best to provide them with their dream costume.
Sometimes, Relief is a Queen Esther Costume - Inside Israel - News - Israel National News
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Purim is one of those holidays loved by both children and adults alike. It needs relatively little preparation and is filled with fun, food, and lots of celebration. Kids look forward to the treats theyll receive in the form of Mishloach Manot, and competing with their friends over who has the best costume.
For many needy children in Israel, however, these simple luxuries cannot be taken for granted. This is something that leading Israeli relief organization, Meir Panim, is seeking to redress.
I initiated this project in 2004 after discovering one of the children who attended the Meir Panim after-school club crying his eyes out one day, explains Ilanit Hafuta, Director of the Meir Panim branch in Ohr Akiva (situated 55km north of Tel Aviv). I asked him why he was so upset and he looked up at me with these large, tearful eyes and said that he was embarrassed to attend his school Purim party because he had no costume to wear and his family had no money to buy him one.
Hafuta decided then and there that every single child in the community who needed it would have something to wear that Purim, and today, nine years later, over 100 children in Ohr Akiva alone proudly boast their chosen Purim outfit. The idea that any child should be embarrassed to go to school because they dont have what to dress up in, is heartbreaking. Now, not only does each child have a costume, but we do our very best to provide them with their dream costume.
Sometimes, Relief is a Queen Esther Costume - Inside Israel - News - Israel National News
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Have a very happy purim!
