It has been quite some time since we updated our web site and server. In as much as for the past five days we have been requested to stay indoors and need to stay close to our bomb shelters due to the recent escalation of terrorist rocket attacks on Israel from Hamas in Gaza; we thought now was the time to do it.

Ian
Web Site Getting  Updated

We called our webmaster, who lives in Jerusalem and he was more than happy to get away from the rioting that is going on there. He lives in the old city and it is extremely dangerous right now to even venture outside. As we were running  to the bomb shelter I said to him “So this is your idea of a vacation from the rioting in Jerusalem?”

We have begun to update our website and the server we have used. Hopefully pages and stories will download faster and you will enjoy the new look. We hope you will take a minute or two to check out our new platform.

Part of that process is going through the past fourteen years of posts and cleaning them up for the new site. As I started to go through, looking at the pictures and reading them, I noticed that NOTHING has changed. The same stories I wrote fourteen years ago are playing out right before my very eyes… even with  “Tseva Adom” blaring and explosion rattling my very soul.

There is something wrong with this picture, something  a new web site or server will never fix!

In reality, unless things change, I will never have to write a new story ever again.. I can just go back 2008; when we first opened our doors and start re-posting them!

There is something wrong with this picture, something  a new web site or server will never fix! In as much as nothing has changed, it reiterates the fact that we DO NOT suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) rather we suffer from ATSD (accumulative Traumatic Stress Disorder).   Over the past 22 years these attacks have NEVER stopped, the constant threat has NEVER subsided, therefore there is NOTHING “post” about the stress we have been forced to live with.

The past nine days have seen non-stop terrorist attacks on Sderot as well as the rest of the country; Over 4000 rockets have been fired and as I type now, the alarm is still going off.

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Rebeca’s Blown out wall

We received a request from one family who’s home was hit and destroyed just about everything  she had.

Rebecca is a single mother of two, who just happened to spend Shabbat at her mother’s house with her children. I have seen this same scenario played out more than once over the past thirteen years. People just left their homes; they were late to where they were supposed to go or the class ran long; saving many, many lives.

sifting-through
Sifting Through The Rubble

We will be taking Rebeca to our store front and she can pick and choose anything we have, clothing for her children, school supplies, household supplies or minor appliances, whatever we have on the shelves. We will also give her a cash grant to help with her present living expenses.

We have already helped nine families with cash grants to help provide food and living expenses.  Keep in mind many business have been closed for the past nine days.

Presently the words “cease fire” have come up but , in the past ONE HOUR there have been 51 rocket alerts, so I am not too sure how serious Hamas is about a cease fire! We will keep you posted as things unfold here in Sderot.

If you like, you can follow us on twitter for the latest on the conditions in Sderot.

We have added and new “Category”  to our featured list… שלום  לכולם ; it is written all in Hebrew  for those of you that can read Hebrew. The stories will be written by Eti and will be coming from the heart of someone who has lived in Sderot all of her life and who has been a volunteer from the very beginning of Hope For Sderot.

I do want to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters, for without your support we would not be able to do what we do and help the people we help… THANK YOU!