Greeks Build Israel - Preface

I am going to Israel again! 4th time ever, and 3 Decembers in a row! This time it is Jewish National Fund (JNF) mission to do community service work for a week. A prerequisite for this trip was that I was required to raise $1000 for a rocket proof playground in the city of Sderot, which has been bombarded with over the past 8 years. This is one of the closest communities to the Gaza strip, only 1.5 km away from the border. Residents have only 15 seconds to run for cover once a rocket is launched. More info on the playground later in the blog. Money is still required for this project – you can still donate here. The trip was made up of 39 people in fraternities and sororities from all across the US and me as the lone Canadian. There were 3 of us from AEPi. Even before we left for Israel to help out the communities, as a group we made an impact in Sderot by raising over $40,000 for the playground.

Here is a map of Israel to give context to where I was. The light blue line is the current range (40 km) that Hamas is able to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip. On this trip, Hamas fired rockets into Ashdod, and Beer Sheva for the first time ever – the furthest they have been able to reach. Approximately 15% of the population of Israel lives within the rocket range of Gaza. Since 2000, over 8700 rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel – an average of 3 rockets EVERY DAY!