More GOSIE 2008 Pics!

A Letter From A GOSIE 2008 Parent

"Thank you for all your hard work. My daughter has had a life-altering experience in Israel and we truly appreciate all your efforts and the efforts of JFGO and the GOSIE committee. She has been very moved by some of the things the group has done--and since she has never traveled, this has really opened her eyes to life as she's never seen it before.
Again, thanks, stay well---I miss my daughter but wouldn't want her to miss an opportunity like this for the world...."

More Pictures from GOSIE 2008

"I spent a wonderful time with your kids, and they are all having a wonderful time! here are some pictures ....

Michal Osteen"

GOSIE remembers Eldad Regev in Kiryat Motzkin

GOSIE Teens in the Israeli News

Article title: מאות נערים הדליקו נרות: "המומים וכואבים"

http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,3569244,00.html

Click the link above to go to the article.

Eldad Regev Video on Haaretz

I watched with deep sadness as the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Kiryat Motzkin native Eldad Regev returned to Israel. It seems to me to be appropriate for us to reach out to the Regev family and our sister city.

There is some video from Kiryat Motzkin on the Haaretz.com website:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1002658.html

תהי נשמתם צרורים בצרור החיים . . .

בידידות,
David

Rabbi David Kay
Assistant Rabbi
Congregation Ohev Shalom
Orlando, Florida

Note From Michal in Israel

Hi Everyone,

I was in Kiryat Motzkin for a few days, working on a few things, getting the teens ready for the Orlando teens, and visiting the different projects that we are funding here...

We have changed so many lives, that the Orlando community should all be very happy and proud about. We had some visitors from Orlando too who stated how great it is to see where their dollars have gone!

Tonight is the first night of a three days series that Orlando funded for Holocaust survivors..
The Polish Ambassador spoke, and it was a night to honor the survivors in front of the community, followed by a play about the second generation of the survivors, the children of the Holocaust survivors...

The next few days are dedicated to lectures and trips for them with different university Professors...

I had lunch with the Mayor with all the school principals and they all talked about how we changed so many children's lives here in Kiryat Motzkin.

The principals raved about the after school programs, and the upcoming summer camp for kids who would otherwise be on the street all summer! It is a huge success, and there are over 100 kids able to attend summer camp...

I got to meet a little girl who came here from Russia and her dad drowned. Thanks to Orlando, the girl who is 12 and 6 months ago was not reading and writing, is now on 4th grade level with the help we had gotten her...she was so sweet... hard to believe that 6 months ago she hardly spoke... Now she is all smiles and happy with lots of friends...

It is a good feeling to see all these wonderful things.

I am looking forward to meet the Orlando teens next week when they get to meet the Kiryat Motzkin teens and am hoping they like last year will have a wonderful experience.

Love,
Michal