August 3rd, 2017 – It is vacation time in Israel and schools are closed, so two Israeli teenagers decided to help us prepare for Shalom House knowing that we were lacking volunteers.  When 12 survivors arrived from Or Akiva, they immediately fell in love with our new volunteers. They hugged them and kissed them and mentioned how they looked just like their grandchildren or great grandchildren.

As soon as they came in, one survivor gave us a box of chocolates and another one showed us the paintings she has been doing at home. Others brought pictures of their families and some of them shared their personal stories with the new generation.

At the end of the day, as we were saying good bye to them, a person from the group surprised us with post cards dedicated to each one of us. We were standing there with chocolates, magazines, post cards and even an invitation to a Shabbat dinner, feeling overwhelmed. Our two young volunteers were very tired and could hardly move or talk while we drove them home. But this was important to them, and they said it was fun and they would definitely love to come back again.