B'nai Mitzvah Tzedaka Project Opportunities
Smaller Projects
Clothing: Many children at Yemin Orde are orphans and have no family to buy them clothes, shoes and other essential items. Other children have immigrated to Israel alone and also have no one to support them. Each year, Yemin Orde provides basic items for the children at the Village.
Cost per child: $250
School Supplies: The older children attend the Archie Sherman High School which is located in the Village while the younger children attend local neighborhood schools. Even so, the Village must supply each child with essential school supplies including notebooks, pens and pencils, calculators, paper, and knapsacks.
Cost per child: $250
Computer Center Programs: There is a very modern Computer Center at the Village which houses 100 computers (one computer for every five children). Support is constantly needed to keep the hardware and software up to date, including educational software, computer games for the children, email/internet, maintenance of the computers, and to provide certification courses for those children who are interested in pursuing a career in computing or computer graphics. The computers are also used for Photoshop classes.
Computer: $350 per computer
Ten Computers for Video Editing: $1,500 per computer
Two new Video Cameras: $2,000 per camera
Software: $360 per computer
After School Workshops: $400 per child
Sports Equipment and Supplies: The kids at Yemin Orde love to do all different types of sporting activities from playing soccer and basketball to long distance running, yoga, swimming and aerobics. Each year, the Village needs to provide new sporting equipment, shoes and outfits for the children.
Cost per year: $360 per child per year
Trip to Jerusalem: Throughout the year, groups of children visit Jerusalem to study the rich history, view the religious sites and walk in the footsteps of our ancestors. A gift to this project will offset the costs of transportation and educational materials.
Trip: $1,000- $3,000 per trip (depending upon the number of kids in the group)
Art and Music Programs: Like any child, the children of Yemin Orde love to have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, do arts and crafts, sing in the choir, learn karate, drama, etc. Support for these activities will enable the children at Yemin Orde to pursue hobbies and activities outside of the school environment. A gift will help cover the cost of arts and crafts supplies, musical instruments, private music lessons and special classes / courses.
Visits to theatre and after school drama workshops: $400 per child for the year
After school music lessons/ choir practice (instruments and recital attire): $1,500 per child
Holidays and other Celebrations: Jewish Holidays and Shabbat are an important element of life at Yemin Orde, especially for those children who did not have the opportunity to observe the holidays in their native countries. Many graduates return to the Village to celebrate with their Yemin Orde "family", particularly those with no other support network in Israel. A gift will help cover the cost of celebrating the holidays at the Village.
Cost per child: $360
Psychological Therapy: Our social work staff treat many of our children and for our more challenged kids, we have created additional more intensive therapy to respond to their special needs. Through a range of therapies, including art therapy, music therapy, conventional psychological and psychiatric care, we are helping our children heal from past trauma. Over thirty children each year need this unique care. Therapies are costly and a gift to offset such costs would be appreciated.
Cost to counsel a child for one year: $1,500
Travel abroad to visit parents: An average of 15 children per year travel abroad to visit their families during the summer months
Cost of trip: $1,000 per child
Summer Camp for Children: For several weeks each summer, Yemin Orde opens its doors to additional young at-risk children from around Israel. Children of foreign workers, immigrant children from low income families, and children from neighboring Arab villages are hosted in different summer camp programs at Yemin Orde. Yemin Orde student-volunteers assist the children during their stay.
Total Cost per child: $800
Graduate Support: Yemin Orde remains home for many young people long after they have graduated from the Village’s high school, particularly for those with no family in Israel. Graduates in the army receive care packages and staff attend army ceremonies to demonstrate caring support. Graduates return to the Village to celebrate weddings and other lifecycle events. Yemin Orde helps with career and educational guidance counseling, and provides graduates with need-based scholarships to Universities and other institutions of higher education. Scholarships for Yemin Orde Graduates may be established in honor or in memory of a loved one.
Scholarship funds start at: $1,000
Larger Projects
Orthodontic Treatment for One Child: Some youngsters suffer from very serious orthodontic problems that affect their health and self-image profoundly. It is especially difficult for an adolescent to be a vibrant, self-respecting individual when he or she is too embarrassed to speak or smile. Each treatment, however, is priced at $2,000, and this fee is not covered by Israel’s National Health Service. Yemin Orde provides care to an average of twenty-two students suffering from extreme orthodontic problems each year.
Average cost per child: $2,000
Photo Album for Every Child: Every child in 9th grade will receive a photo album which will be filled with pictures, so that upon graduation every student has an album with about 200 pictures. We believe this is important that every child's youth and his experiences in the village are documented and not lost. It can therapeutic and educational to have a photo album that serves as an anchor in the past. For most of our kids, they don’t think about documenting their life in the village such as holidays, events, daily activities, and field trips, but what will they show their kids one day? Where did they spend their childhood?
Cost of 4 cameras: $650
500 Quality Albums: $1,350
Developing Pictures, $5.50 per student x 200 students: $1,100
Total Cost: $3,100
Moadonim, the children's clubhouses: Our children live in children's homes at the village, some for 24 kids and some for 48. These homes include apartments for staff and a common "clubhouse," a vital and important part of the children's daily lives. Our children's days are intense, with long hours of study and a comprehensive after school activity and homework program. The clubhouse is the children's place where they can "chill."
The clubhouse is also the place where the informal educators (counselors) conduct many of the informal activities and discussions with the youth about themselves, about Israel, and about how to "make it" in our society. It is important that these clubrooms be comfortable and pleasant. Currently, the furniture in these rooms is minimal and not terribly inviting. Most have old televisions and a few plastic chairs, bare walls and dim lighting.
We are hoping to refurnish our clubrooms, with the following items: a number of small electrical fixtures such as a hot water dispenser, a toaster and a small refrigerator; furniture such as sofas, a coffee table, a desk, and book shelves; a central heating/air conditioning unit; and curtains, linens, pictures for the walls, and a good painting of the room's walls. At this time, twenty clubhouse rooms are in need of renovations.
Renovations for one moadon: $2,600
Additional Informal Educators/Counselors: The Madrich (counselor) is the mentor, parent figure, and "point person" for the children for all hours that they are not in school. Duties include supervision of cultural activities, athletics, meals, community outreach projects, dorm projects, and homework; attending to medical concerns, discipline, family and social matters, and safety concerns. In order to provide the necessary level of care to the youngsters, Yemin Orde employs twenty-two counselors, while the government only provides funding for twelve.
Cost per educator: $30,000
Repairing Roofs: Most buildings in the Village are in need of new roofs. Needless to say, when the Village was being built over fifty years ago, there was no awareness of the dangers of using asbestos and thus, nearly all of the original buildings in the Village have asbestos roofing. With 500 children and over 200 staff people living and working at the Village every day, we are anxious to replace the asbestos with proper roofing. Our goal is to replace all roofs prior to the start of the 2009-2010 school year. Although we are receiving the majority of the funding for this work through the Ministry of Education, we are still in need of funds to complete the work.
Cost to complete repair of nearly one dozen roofs in the Village: $62,000