Partnership Youth Task Force Update

Orlando/Kiryat Motzkin Partnership Youth Task Force Update
David Brent, Task Force Chair

The Youth Task Force is currently running four programs:
1) GOSIE Teen Ambassador summer trip to Israel
2) Kova Tembel Israeli teen visit to Orlando
3) HDS/Netanyahu Junior High School partnership
4) Karkal Army Base adoption


The GOSIE program is a three week all inclusive trip to Israel for 10th-12th graders. The trip includes 10 days of traveling with teens from Kiryat Motzkin. The Orlando teens will be hosted for one week in Kiryat Motzkin. The Youth Task force is currently marketing the program to Orlando area teens.

Our goal is to get 25 teens to participate and our minimum number is 15. We have begun developing an itinerary and have been quoted an excellent price from Tourico of $2950 per teen. We plan on conducting interviews of the eligible Orlando teens by the end of February. Michal Osteen and I will be interviewing Kiryat Motzkin teens prior to the partnership steering committee meetings in Motzkin this March. Erica Hruby from Orlando and Shirlee Lampel from Kiryat Motzkin are leading this program.

The Kova Tembel teen visit program is scheduled to take place the end of April. We held the first meeting of the hospitality committee last week. The committee includes Sharon Silver, Patti Albertson, Melanie Dolan, Lisa Maisel, Michal Osteen, Erica Hruby and myself. We are working on the itinerary and home hospitality hosting assignments.

The HDS/Netanyahu program partners HDS middle school students with the same age students at the Yonaton Netanyahu Junior High School in Kiryat Motzkin. The students are sharing pictures and letters via the internet. This program will culminate with the HDS 8th grade trip to Israel in the spring when the 8th graders will get to meet their partners in Kiryat Motzkin face to face. Fanny Sernik and Susan Cohen from HDS are coordinating this program with Ziva Oreny and Louis Malul of Kiryat Motzkin.

The Karkal Army Base adoption program got off to a jump start as the Orlando community sought a path to show their support to Israel during the Gaza conflict. 7th graders at Congregation Ohev Shalom wrote letters to the soldiers that were joined with sweets collected in Kiryat Motzkin. Soldiers from the Karkal base drove a truck to Motzkin to collect the packages of candies. Louise Malul in Kiryat Motzkin and Ava Maxwell in Orlando are heading up this program.

Ava Maxwell has also been receiving donations to support this program. The donations are being made to the Federation and are transferred directly to the UJC and from there to Kiryat Motzkin to help subsidize future gift baskets. This February, the Choices program will also make a donation to this program in honor of the attendees. In the summer, our teens will visit the base during the GOSIE trip.