At dusk on Thursday, June 29, the volunteers of HWB, gathered for a meeting at Hadassah and Eitan Yaakovs’ "Theatre in the Courtyard" complex in Netaf. This is the third time that a volunteers' evening has been held in this magical location, overlooking the central plain and the coast from the Jerusalem hills.
With the delicious refreshments, prepared by Hadassah and Ayala, we sat together in groups around tables both to get to know each other better and discuss issues relevant to our daily activities, within the scope of the NGO, as well as fundamental issues we encounter.
Among the topics dealt with: contact and communication with the children and their families, recruitment of volunteers, orientation and accompaniment of new volunteers, the visibility of the association and public awareness of its operations, medical and financial help for the families whom we assist, logistical issues and difficulties that the volunteers are exposed to.
The discussion yielded many concrete and practical recommendations, the implementation of which will improve the work of the volunteers and the quality of the service provided to the families.
Toward the end of the event, in a festive atmosphere, it was formally noted that the role of chairman of the association was transferred from Larry Lester, who served longer than anyone can remember, to Amy Yurman. And there was no shortage of words of praise and thanks for the outgoing chairman and wishes of success for the new head of the NGO.
The evening concluded with the artistic performance by the Ittai Ben-Non Trio which played a medley of music that straddled the seam between East and West and included Hasidic, Arabic, Turkish, and African music combined with Western styles. Ittai ben Nun was amazing playing both wind and string instruments. Joe Taylor gracefully accompanied him on the acoustic guitar and Lev Allman charmed us with the drums. And the enthusiastic audience also joined in singing towards the end of the performance.