Three years ago Hope For Sderot had its first Hanukkah party which marked its first public appearance here in Sderot. Today we are making plans for our third Hanukah party, Praise be to G-D or in Hebrew Baruch Ha’Shem.

We have been busy planning and preparing for this year’s Hanukkah party for the children of Sderot. In the past there have been as many as 400 children who come to spend the afternoon playing games, eating hotdogs and “grandfather hair” (cotton candy), having their faces painted, and enjoying the antics of a very special clown. Hanukkah is a favorite holiday especially for the children.

Once again the clown has us marked down on her calendar; the hall has been reserved for us that day. Candy, toys, jelly donuts, cotton candy have all been ordered for the party during the day for the children of Sderot. Last year we had over 400 children come. What a joy it is to watch them have fun in a safe building.

I remember our first Hanukah Party. We were worried if anyone would come because then we were being hit everyday with Kassam rockets from Gaza. Baruch Ha’Shem that was the only day we did not have a Kassam land in Sderot and all we invited came.

This year we will have three Hanukah parties. We will have one party during the day for the small children. We will have games and prizes to win and of course the clown and cotton candy. We will also have a party that evening for the adults who have been physically injured by Kassams.

Refreshments, games, bingo and a time to light the second Hanukah candle, to remember the grace of G-D and His hand that protects us. We have fifty people on the guest list but with their guests and our staff there will be 115 as we celebrate Hanukah for the third year.

The third party is for the highschoolers here. There are some 600 kids in the school so that will require aloooot of cola, chips, candy, and jelly donuts. This Hanukah we will extend ourselves further then ever before which means we will put more miles on our faith shoes then ever before; but then we serve a G-D that owns the cattle of a thousand hills.

No sooner will we finish the Hanukah parties then we are planning a one day excursion up north to Acco. We have invited 54 people that have been injured by Kassams to spend the day with us as we travel to a wonderful place in Acco. As tourists, you might have been to Acco, but for most of our families trips to places like this are just too far or too expensive for them to go to. The major expense is the bus but Ha’Shem has taken care of that… Baruch Ha’Shem.

We will have more about that trip in our next news letter. For now as we see Ha’Shem provide miracle after miracle we are left dumb founded and doing the only thing we can do PRAISING HIM!!!