Over the past twenty four hours fifteen rockers have been fired from terrorists in Gaza. They have not only targeted Sderot but all the town on the Gaza border. Little has been reported in the main stream media but there are plenty of pictures of children in Gaza standing in a crater left by a IAF strike on a arms manufacturing plant and arms storage facility.
It is out Hope and desire to show and tell the realty of life here in Sderot.

 We started our preparation for Shabbat this week with “Tseva Adom”. It came Friday afternoon as things were winding down, and people did their last minute shopping and preparation of their Shabbat food.

 As the Tseva Adom sounded we all made our way to the bomb shelter. Our cat was right behind us. We counted to fifteen, but we heard no boom, so we went back to what we were doing.

Throughout Shabbat our cell phone went off several times as it warned us of Kassam attacks as they were happening through this area. Each time the phone went off the cat ran and hid under the dining room table.

 As Shabbat was ending our lives were interrupted once again by Tseva Adom. We made our way once again to the bomb shelter, but we didn’t get halfway there (maybe six seconds) when we heard the boom.

The Kassam hit a paint manufacturing plant. The plant erupted in flames, The smoke could be seen from just about everywhere in Sderot. Our fire department has one class 1 pumper and a squad pumper. Mutual aid came from three different departments and ten engines from around the area, each being about 20 minutes away.

The plant has thirty employees who, as of last night, are out of a job until the plant will be rebuilt. Four years ago the owner moved his plant from Ofakim to Sderot because it too was hit by a Kassam rocket fired from the terrorists in Gaza.

 Will he rebuild it here or will he move it to a place he feels is safer? For now he faces the bureaucracy and insurance companies.  Both come with miles of Red Tape that need to be peeled off before he can move ahead. It not just the thirty jobs that are lost; those wages were spent here in Sderot as local shops and stores.  That too was lost as was the tax revenue to the city from the business.

 We stopped by yesterday and again today to offer our help to any of their employees that might need help with food until they can get back on their feet. Some of the employees are helping with the cleanup operation,  which means they are still working, and that is encouraging.

Hope For Sderot will help in any way we can. The good news is that there were no serious injuries as a result of the fire and the fire was contained to the one structure although flames spread down the street melting the aluminum fire hydrant connection, cracking the cement from the heat of the fire and burning the shrubs along the fences .

If you would like to help us supply the food to these families or any of the 480 families we currently have on our list, you can click here. A gift of $25 a month will enable us to supply 1 much needed food for one month. If you more information about this program you can click here. Thank you in advance for your love and support.