Forty Washington DC delegates lit the seventh Chanuka candle at the Ramat Lechy neighborhood club in Beit Shemesh, together with neighborhood children, Lamitnadev volunteers and Jewish Agency Partnership Manager Yizhar Hess.

Neighborhood children greeted the visitors with bouquets of flowers, while the delegation brought toys to the Ramat Lechy club, which serves one of Beit Shemesh's disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Lamitnadev board member Moshe Flam opened the evening by strumming Chanuka songs on his guitar and singing with the children. Lamitnadev Chair Eitan Hevrony welcomed the delegation (see speech below) and delegates joined neighborhood children in doing a computerized Chanuka crossword puzzle. A festive Chanuka party followed, with volunteer musicians Chaim Avisrur and Avi Afriat giving a spirited performance.

Eitan Hevrony's Speech

Dear friends and colleagues.

Welcome to our community and Happy Chanukah.

My name is Eitan Hevrony and I'm the chairman of Lamitnadev organization.

We are very happy to host you here in Ramat Lechi neighborhood at Beit-Shemesh.

First we will stay here at the computers room of Adayahu school and afterwards we will walk to the Moadonit (shelter club) of Ramat Lechy - the children of the neighborhood had prepare for us a Chanukah party, and we will light together the seventh candle of Chanukah.

I will start with a short introduction of our organization:

The idea to initiate our organization took place during the Washington Young Leadership Conference (at March 1999).

We where four representatives from different projects in Beit-Shemesh and we first met at the conference, with the inspiration of it we decide to establish our organization. "Lamitnadev " organization was formally established in November 2000 as an independent volunteering non-profit organization.

The organization strives to encourage and strengthen the value "volunteering" and social involvement and responsibility of the residents and organizations in Beit Shemesh and Mate Yehuda.

We believe it is possible to reduce socio-economic gaps and improve the local ecology by coordination, cooperation, and the provision of information and by carrying out volunteering projects in the community.

Members of the Organization, students and volunteers take part and promote volunteering projects according to the needs of the communities, all of our organization's members acts and volunteer with no rewards except a self satisfaction and a high moral feelings.

About a year and a half ago we decided to adopt Ramat Lechy neighborhood with the recommendation of our administrator-Yosi Levy.

When we arrive to the neighborhood we found out that it's a huge project to do and most of our affronts went towards Ramat Lechy:

70% of the families in the neighborhood are single parents families, most of the children are board at the after school hours the shelter that used as their club was in a terrible condition and soon after we found out that we will have to face a feeding problems.

Yosi -our coordinator took this hard job on his hands and activates students on a daily basis to give free courses for the neighborhood children's.

We painted and decorated the shelter with the help of the children's, we computerized the shelter with used contributed computers and connected them all together.

Thanks to our cooperation with Latet organization we delivered a dry food boxes and a hot meals to the neighborhood children's.

We organized a free tickets to the science museum in Jerusalem and to a theater shows in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The local welfare department were so impressed of what we are doing and the decide to give us the yearly reward for an excellent volunteer's organization and the are asking us to get into some other low socio-economic neighborhoods in Beit-Shemesh.

The computer room that we are sitting in write now is a contribution of Rad communication high tech company/

Lamitnadev organization ask them to contribute an Internet access to the shelter club, when the came to visit us they decide to contribute a whole new computerized and furnished computer room with air-condition that will use the school children's during the day and the neighborhood children's during the afternoon.

At your last visit about a year ago you brought a big suitcases with toys to the shelter club and you collected money for baying a first aid food, we so grateful for your generous help and social solidarity.

We see your help and care as an actual Chanukah miracle with your help we are creating a real social change and strengthening the values of Jewish social responsibility.

We really want to strength the ties and the cooperation with your community and we hope that you will visit us again.

In Lamitnadev Organization We believe that through cooperation, a volunteers spirit and a social responsibility we will be able to reduce the high socio-economic gaps and we can create a strong bridge between Adat shalom congregation and Ramat Lechy Congregation.

Thank you and have a nice stay in our neighborhood and in Israel