The American Friends of Neve Hanna (AFNH) is the non-profit children’s organization for the Neve Hanna Children’s Home in Kiryat Gat, Israel. From its beginnings in 1973, Neve Hanna has provided a warm and loving home for at-risk children from disadvantaged families. With its successful individualized therapeutic programs, projects and extracurricular activities, Neve Hanna Children’s Home strives to meet all the physical, emotional, mental and educational needs of its children. Neve Hanna provides a nurturing and supportive family environment and offers our children the chance to grow beyond the circumstances from which they emerged. American Friends of Neve Hanna raises awareness and funds that support many programs including Streetlight.
Streetlight, a youth club, working with US globally based college fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), helps needy families in Kiryat Gat, Israel and the surrounding area. Their motto is “The best thing in the world is to do good deeds for others.” Streetlight teaches social activism, tolerance, mutual respect, giving and sharing as well as friendship. Through Streetlight, our Neve Hanna teens, who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, learn young leadership qualities. The children gain an appreciation of giving as well as gratitude for what they receive at Neve Hanna.
Neve Hanna children collect bottles, to obtain their deposits. This money, along with their pocket money is donated to Streetlight. The teens also request donations of money and food, from private individuals and companies to help dozens of disadvantaged families every weekend throughout the year by making food packages.
This year, in light of the Coronavirus, Neve Hanna Children’s Home is helping an additional 40 families in the community, who live under difficult socioeconomic circumstances. These are the families of the children who normally would be attending Neve Hanna’s daycare program, Path to Peace, a joint Jewish-Bedouin daycare operated by the children’s home since 2004. Since these children must now stay at home, their families require extra assistance.
On the major Jewish holidays, Rosh HaShana and Passover, the rest of Neve Hanna’s children and teens, as well as all the staff, join Streetlight. With combined efforts, they prepare 120 food packages that are delivered to families in need, enabling them to celebrate the holidays with food on the table. This Passover, the children at Neve Hanna prepared a total of 160 packages that were delivered.
For additional information and to contribute to the children at Neve Hanna, please visit our website: http://www.afnevehanna.org
American Friends of Neve Hanna 